Pv Wes 
*O fw hersAga 


OVS PhS ae 
1° Prayhou any) 
wren wea 


ILDRED STAPLEY BYNE 
ARTHURBYNE | 


f 


a 
id 
. ‘ 
‘ 1 j 
L ; ‘ 
\ t i 
* . 
' 
‘ 
‘ 


‘ ¥ 
a ; 
. » Me 
k : 
: 
: x 
? 
i x 
oe ” 
~~ a 
~ 


. 
* 
, 
7 
’ - 4 t 
’ 
‘ 
> 
. 
| 
—— 
—* 
‘ 
5 
- . 
; 
5 
’ 
np * 
a 
, 
i 
~ 
‘ 
‘ é 
. 
y 
) % } 
; h ‘ 
F ‘ ‘ 


——— 


_ SPANISH GARDENS 


fe AND PATIOS — — foaret 


ao 


Uniform With This Volume 


VILLAS OF FLORENCE 
AND TUSCANY 


BY 
HAROLD DONALDSON EBERLEIN 


300 Photographic Illustrations of the 

finest examples of Italian villas taken by 

the author and from angles that show 
them to the best advantage. 


“To its every reader, whether merely a lover of 
history and of the beautiful, or learned in the art 
of architecture, this volume of superb format and 
superb illustration will give a rare delight. More, 
it will enlarge immeasurably the individual point 
of view. For the villas selected for study, through 
historical association, plans, photographs and care- 
fully detailed description, have each some archi- 
tectural characteristic distinct from all the others, 
and each is analyzed and illustrated from every 
point of view. Particularly significant today is a 
well-ordered story of the architecture of the 
Florentine and Tuscan villas.” —Bosion Transcript. 


GARDEN VISTA, CASA DEL REY MORO, RONDA 
Now the villa of the Duquesa de Parcent 


SPANISH GARDENS 
AND PATIOS 


IELOSTRATED WITH 175 EXAMPLES 
4 PLATES IN COLOUR 


BY 


MILDRED STAPLEY BYNE 


AND 


ARTHUR BYNE 


CORRESPONDING MEMBERS OF THE HISPANIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA; AUTHORS OF 
“SPANISH IRONWORK, “SPANISH ARCHITECTURE OF THE XVI CENTURY,” 
“SPANISH INTERIORS AND FURNITURE,” ETC. 


PHILADELPHIA t? LONDON 
JeB. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 


NEW YORK 
THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD 


1928 


a 


COPYRIGHT, 1923, 1924, BY F. W. DODGE CORPORATICN 


ADDITIONS COPYRIGHT, I924, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPA 


‘ ; eax 


met 
PRINTED BY J. 3. LIPP! 
AT THE WASHINGTON 


‘TO THOSE SPANIARDS WHO | 

Pia KINDY OPENED THEIR ; | 
_ GARDENS FOR STUDY AND 

_ SKETCHING, THE AUTHORS 

_ WISH TO EXPRESS THEIR 

pees "GRATITUDE | 


t 
Jn 
‘ 


<< 


FOREWORD 
N PRESENTING this account of Spanish gardens 


it is hoped that their unusual features may attract 

in a practical way those who ought to have a large 
community of interest with the country that first carried 
civilization and culture to the New World. 

The true Spanish garden is of Asiatic derivation; it 
harks back to Persia during her splendour under the 
Sassanids—the garden the Arabs found there when they 
conquered her. ‘The Moors who made gardens in 
Spain, after it too had been added to the Mohammedan 
conquests, were no artless children of nature; their 
Moslem tradition was one of order, science, everything 
prearranged. A garden was not a walled-off piece of 
cultivated ground ; it was a man-made design that per- 
mitted nature to play a small part, nothing more. It 
was a fundamentally artificial production, emphasis 
being laid on man’s, not on nature’s contribution. 

And man’s chief contribution was glazed polychrome 
tiles. These even more than the scant use of flowers 
make the Spanish garden unlike others of Europe. They 
are above all else the legacy that the Arabs and Moors left 
in the architecture of the Iberian Peninsula. Let no one 
dream of possessing a Spanish garden or patio who is 
hostile to their use on a generous scale. 

Nor must the old-fashioned lover of flowers—our 
proper English heritage—expect to reconcile this with 
the Spanish design. It is of green he must think, 


9 


IO FOREWORD 


especially of odorous green, and look to tiles, not to 
bloom, for his colour note. This briefly is the theory 
of the Spanish garden. 

If Southern Spain receives all our attention in these 
chapters, it is because elsewhere in Spain gardens follow 
the general European tradition and so are not distinctive 
or to be accounted as truly Spanish gardens. 

In this subjeét, as in all phases of Spanish art, we 
have on the one hand the influence of Europe and 
Christians, on the other, of Asia and Mohammedans. 
Arab civilization dominated in the south from the 
opening of the eighth century to the close of the 
fifteenth. When the Christians reconquered Cordova 
and Seville (1236 and 1248), and Granada (1492), 
they kept the Moorish artisan class and thus preserved 
the firmly implanted oriental tradition in the induStrial 
arts. Domestic architecture and gardens, both so admi- 
rably adapted to the Andalusian climate, were modified 
slightly but not changed. The cool white house with 
its open patio, the small garden made for the master’s 
delectation and not for the entertainment of his friends, 
were admirably suited to the reserved and exclusive 
character of the incoming Spaniards. 

Patios are included because, being at the same time 
an indoor garden and an outdoor salon, they illustrate the 
Moorish intent to draw outdoors indoors—to have no 
sharp contrast between these two settings of the daily life. 
The only garden of dwellers in cities, it puts our small city 


yards to shame. ‘‘ The patio,’’ wrote Theophile Gautier, 


FOREWORD II 


who made its acquaintance in 1840, “is a delightful 
invention.” In truth it is much more; it is a very 
practical solution for house planning and a unit that 
offers great decorative possibilities. 

A few old Andalusian cloisters are given because 
they represent the sort of arcade and court that served as 
prototype for the early missions built by Spanish priests 
and monks in America. ‘The monastery having always 
been and Still being a very prominent factor in Spanish 
life, it is no exaggeration to say that without the 
cloister no collection of Spanish gardens and _ patios 
would be complete. 

A word as to the illustrations offered. Graphically 
a book on any phase of Spanish art, except painting, 
must be inadequate unless the author be prepared to act 
as photographer and draughtsman as well. Outside of 
Catalonia no group of inveStigators has appointed a 
competent photographer to record the artistic wealth of 
its region and fo put such photographs within reach of 
students. If great architectural monuments have not 
received this merited attention, how much less have old 
gardens. The only exception to this general observation 
would be the perfectly obvious views sold to tourists in 
Seville and Granada. 

This neglect of graphic record has always existed. 
In presenting Spanish gardens it would be a pleasure to 
show, as might a garden book dealing with any other 
country, some charming old plates engraved in the 


eighteenth century ; but, unfortunately, Spanish archives 


12 FOREWORD 


yield no such material. When the art of engraving 
was at its height, Spaniards, from whom much might 
have been expected, made no effort to contribute. 
At a time when Falda, Silvestre, Scherm, Rigaud, 
Sutton Nichols, to mention only a few of the most 
important in their class, were making magnificent 
plates of the great gardens of Italy, France, The Low- 
lands, and England, nothing was produced in Spain but 
a few engravings of the Escorial and La Granja. 
True that in Andalusia many of the best Moorish 
gardens disappeared along with much else that was 
oriental soon after the Christian conquest; yet as 
late as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there 
still exiSted sufficient to repay the limner had he been 
interested. In the Netherlands, for inStance, we read 
that it was the ambition of every one who owned a fine 
garden to have it engraved. In Spain only royalty, and 
very occasionally at that, shared thisambition. Indeed, 
even in the case of a royal and important garden like 
that of the Alcazar at Seville no sketch or plan can be 
encountered in the Casgtle’s archives. 

Our illustrations therefore—photographs, sketches, 
and plans—had to be made first-hand. In place of the 
charm of old engravings we can offer only modern accu- 
racy and applicability. 

Nor can a bibliography be offered to those who 
might like to pursue the subject further; until now 
nothing more than slight sketchy chapters here and 


there has been written. Certain books of horticultural 


FOREWORD 13 


and geoponic nature prepared by Spanish Arabs have 
been translated, but these, with one remarkable excep- 
tion, are literary curiosities rather than practical helps. 
The exception referred to is by the Arab author 
Abuzacaria, whose work has just been translated by the 
distinguished Arabist Don José A. Sanchez Pérez. 
Abuzacaria, who lived in the middle of the twelfth 
century, had extensive farms and gardens in Aljarafe, 
Sevilla. He wrote all his personal observations and 
experiments, beside making: a résumé of all the agro- 
nomic science known up to his time. For the Moham- 
medan world his book was law in agricultural matters. 
An earlier Spanish translation was made (1802), and a 
French (1864), but copies are now so rare as to be 
beyond price. 
Paseo de la Castellana 19 


MapbrRID 


MARBLE TROUGH, PALACE OF THE MARQUES DE PENAFLOR 
ECIJA 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 
UPA Seyler ns Bic 2 OCS Se aces Sea eee Salen ae ana 7 
PART I 
ANDALUSIA 
CHAPTER 
I. CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF SPANISH 
te re ae re rd 2 
MMR DE WeCLCCESSORIFS: 5. 2.055.0 0 ov vk cesses 67 
III. Patios or Corpova, SEVILLE AND GRANADA... 93 
IV. THe Garvpens “Det Rey Moro,” Ronpa, AND 
Las ErMITAS, SIERRA DE CorRDOVA....... I19 
Wee (SP NERALIFE, (GRANADA... 2.0. cee ete ee I4I 
VI. THe ALHAMBRA AND THE Acosta GARDEN, 
Vs ELISE TORS 2 RD Te a ie 163 
Pete Ee ALCAZAR (GARDENS; SEVILLE. .«........+- 189 
VIII. GarpeEN or THE DUKE oF MEDINACELI AND 
GARDEN OF THE DUKE oF ALVA, SEVILLE . 2II 
IX. Some GARDENS OF SEVILLE AND CORDOVA..... 239 
Parque de Maria Luisa, Seville; El Jardin de 
Murillo, Seville; El Museo Provincial, Seville; 
Number 8, Guzman el Bueno, Seville; Garden 
of the Marques de Viana, Cordova 
PART II 
I. Typicat Parios AND GARDENS OF Majorca... 267 
NE Nn ee ee aah ghee ahd a le ee 5 301 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
COLOUR-PLATES 


GarpEN Vista, Casa DEL Rey Moro, Ronpa........... Frontts piece 

To*Face Pace 
A Group oF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ANDALUSIAN TILES....... 68 
eee e 1A MERCED, SEVILLA, . 2.02.2. vee ee ee eee 240 
MERLE ET, DAY OF PAGUMA.,. 2700. c esse ee ce ee ances 268 


HALF-TONES 


Marsie Troucu, PALACE oF THE MARQUES DE PENAFLOR, Ecija 14 


Me CPACE OEVILLE = fe oot ee ee 29 
(SARDENS OF THE GENERALIFE. Brick Stair—CAasE.......... 30 
GARDENS OF THE GENERALIFE. Upper PARTERRE........... a 
GARDEN OF House IN THE PLaza DEL ALFARO, SEVILLE ..... 31 
GarpEen oF Don Micuet Sancuez Datp, SEVILLE........... 32 
ieeyeor DON |OsrE AcosTA, GRANADA ................... 33 
Ser THE UNIVERSITY, DEVILLE: ....-.. 0.020.020 ee eee 34 
AucazAR GARDENS. ReEcEsseD OPENINGS IN GARDEN WALLS... 35 
ALcAZAR GARDENS. STAIRS OF PoLYCHROME TILES.......... 36 
MemereercrRDENS. CYPRESS ARCH. .......002...00-20000%- 4I 
Las ERMITAS, SIERRA DE Corpova. Cypress ARCH......... 42 
THe VIANA GARDENS. GoTHic ARCADE OF CEDAR .......... 43 
Seven NAS (GARDENS. WALL OPENINGS ................6..- 44 
Meee eee VviARiA [uiskA. Cypress ARCADE................ 45 
MemeereeeeeRIZAPA, CORDOVA... . 0.22506. eee eae 46 


AucazaR GARDENS. MANNER oF PLantinG aT BasE oF WALL 47 
AucazAR GARDENS. Brick Pata Lerapinc To PavILion oF 


EY Pee ee ee ee av ee 48 
Aucazar GARDENS. WALLED ENCLOSURES OPEN TO THE SKY 53 
Meme eetosepeNns, IViAIN POOL... 2... ce tee ee eee 54 
Geeoueepe ViariA Luisa. Brick RorunDA................ ia 
GARDENS OF THE GENERALIFE. GREEN PREDOMINATING COLOUR 56 
GARDENS OF THE GENERALIFE. PEBBLED PAVEMENT......... 57 
GARDENS OF THE GENERALIFE. HILLSIDE GARDEN AND STAIR 

BeNOR LANDINGS (0. ee eee De eee 58 
GARDENS OF THE GENERALIFE. CENTRAL CANAL............ 63 
GARDEN OF THE CasA DEL Rey Moro. WatTeER CarrieED IN 

ie ESAS SS se cere Sea a eh 64 
SMI aM A, GRANADA... 26) tee he ee ew eee 66 
feegse GARDENS. INsIGNIA PLrantTeD In Box............. 68 
Ea AT CISUNA Ooo eine doe ee ge eee ee 74 
Las Ermitas, SIERRA DE Corpova. WuHiteE WALL SETTING.. 74 
PAVILION IN THE GARDEN OF MURILLO, SEVILLE ............ 76 
House IN THE CALLE GUZMAN EL BUENO, SEVILLE.......... SI 
LARGE STEPPED Poot 1n PotycHRoME TIiLeEs, SEVILLE....... 82 
Poot Linep witH Brick AND PoLycHROME TILES, SEVILLE... 82 
TrteD PATIO AND Hoopep WELL, SEVILLE......... a ae 84 


18 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


DimInuTivEe PATIO GARDEN? DEVILLE, 23.4.4 eee eee he 
Benco Executep in Pouycarome Pre 342.5 5...5 5) eee 
Bencues Executep rn PoryveaRoMm lTILB ))...>)..34 soe 
TILE AND Stucco DETAILS FROM THE PARQUE DE Maria Luisa 
ForMER PALACE: OF. THE ALTAMIRAS, DEVILLE ..9.2) 500 
PaTIO OF THE FoRMER ALTAMIRA Patace. WELL-HEAD..... 
PaTIo OF THE FORMER ALTAMIRA Patace. Use oF POLYCHROME 

TILE. 60 ee a ea 
Patio Stair AND Weti—Heap, Monpracon Patace, Ronpa . 
Casa CuHapiz, GRANADA. GRANADINE PATIO“. >. 20 eee 
Casa Cuapiz, SeconDARY PATIO (2.520) 
CLOISTER OF THE CONVENTO DE SanTA CLARA, MoOGUER..... 
A Tyrpicau SEVILLIAN Patio TREATED IN TILES. 7 
Patio oF THE Hospicio, FORMERLY EL CONVENTO DE LA MERCED 
Patio or THE Hospicio, TREATMENT IN WHITE AND YELLOW 

STUCCO oa oo ee ee ee eee 
Oxtp Corpvova Patio with CoLouRED TILE Winpow TREAT— 

MENT ooo oats bl Pas ened Sek 
FIFTEENTH CENTURY CLOISTER, CONVENTO DE SANTA CLARA 
ForMER MonasTERIO DE SAN JERONIMO, SIERRA DE CORDOVA 
ABANDONED. CarTUJA AT JEREZ ..4¢% uw. oe 
CLOISTER OF THE MOoNASTERIO DE NUESTRA SENORA DE 

GUADALUPE 44 eee eee ) . a 
GARDEN OF THE CASA DEL Rey Moro. Upper TERRACE.... 
GARDEN OF THE Casa DEL Rey Moro. MIppLe TERRACE... 
GaRDEN Pian, Casa DEL Rey. Moro... = -..7 12.5 ee 
Lowest TErrace, Casa pEU Rey Moro ). eee 
DeTaiL oF THE Poo., Casa DEL Rey Moro) 
LooKkING UP THE THREE GARDEN LEVELS, CASA DEL Rey Moro 
Patio, Casa pet Rey Moro ..;.).4 5. fe eee 
ENTRANCE TO Monastery Las Ermitas (HERMITAGE)........ 
ENTRANCE TO CHAPEL FoRECOURT, LAS ERMITAS 50 
Las Erwiras. Tre Monastery Group... 32) eee 
Las Ermitas. A HILusipE or ORANGE AND OLIvE TREES... 
Las Ermitas. Eacu Hermit RESPONSIBLE FOR His GARDEN.. 
Las Ermitas. WALL SURROUNDING EacH STRUCTURE AND GARDEN 
View From Mrrapor, GRANADA AND THE ALHAMBRA IN DISTANCE 
THe Present Day AppRoacH TO THE GENERALIFE GARDENS . 
Birp’s Eye View oF THE GENERALIFE, GRANADA ........... 
Ture GENERALIFE SEEN FROM THE ALHAMBRA |...) eee 
ENTRANCE PaTIO OF THE GENERALIFE FROM GATE LODGE.... 
THE GENERALIFE GARDENS. PaTIO OF THE CYPRESSES...... 
THE GENERALIFE GARDENS. FOUNTAIN IN THE PaTIO OF THE 

CYPRESSES (5.0 a oc en ee 
THe GENERALIFE GARDENS. Loccia In WuitE Stucco AND 

GREEN WoopwoRrk: 30. . 0.0 0o eeu 
THE GENERALIFE GARDENS. PEBBLE WALK DESCENDING FROM 

Highest Terrace... ..S05. 4.1 ee 
THE GENERALIFE GARDENS. StatR LEADING UP FROM THE 

Cypress Patio)... 0: Oe 
THE GENERALIFE GARDENS. DeEtTaIL oF STAIR..........+-<-~ 


153 
154 


155 


156 
157 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE GENERALIFE GARDENS. STariR ASCENDING TO MiRADoR.. 
THE GENERALIFE. WINDOW WITH WOODEN GRILLE, OR REJA 
THe ALHAMBRA PaRK OR ALAMEDA. FOUNTAIN OF CHARLES V 
THe ALHAMBRA. FOUNTAIN IN THE’ PaTIO DE DaRAXxa..... 
THe ALHAMBRA. FOUNTAIN IN THE Court Los LEONEs ..... 
MummreeunRa. (JPpPER GALLERY ...:.......0..s oeeces-eee 
THe ALHAMBRA. LOWER ENTRANCE PaTIO DE LA REJja...... 
[aEOALHAMBRA. PAVEMENT OF PATIO DE tA REjA.......... 
Tue ALHAMBRA. LOOKING FROM PaTIo DE LA REJA INTO 
MU ME DAA A he eS ey ol eve ee we case 
THe ALHAMBRA. Upper anp Lower GALLERIES. Norrtu SIDE 
Meer LOS: WIARTIRES, (GRANADA.....6...0..05-05 000s ee eee 
MasstvE Waut ENcLosinc GARDEN oF Don JosE Acosta 
ARcADED Watt oF Acosta GARDEN SEEN FROM THE RoapD 
Sree eos GARDEN, CrAssic ACCESSORIES ......:........ 
feaeecosrTs GARDEN. TEempir.AND ARCHWAY.............. 
Siemeeersts (GARDEN. OTEPPED WALL ........:.......--.-.-- 
DRA COSTA (XARDEN (2 0sc0. co. cn cs ve ce ee ceee 
ENTRANCE TO ALCAZAR GARDENS. OveER—PORTAL............ 
View oF AtcazAR GARDENS. WALL PROMENADE............ 
View or ALcazAR GARDENS TWENTY-FIvE Years Aco...... 
THe ALtcazarR GARDENS. Poout anpD ENTRANCE LOGGIA ...... 
THe Aucazar. A Pavep Patio BETWEEN Two PLANTED PLotTs 
Mae NEeaZAR. (GARDEN OF Maria PaDILLA.............>... 
Tue ALcazaR GARDENS. PLANTING Forms GREEN BACKGROUND 
Tue ALcazAR GARDENS. DIFFERENCES OF LEVEL ADD INTEREST 
THe ALcAzZAR GARDENS. WALLED ENCLOSURES CONNECTED BY 
IE IMG a. ek ca BS ae ee 
THe Atcazar. GALLERY IN WALL oF PETER THE CRUEL.... 
Ppa eT ECAZAR GARDENS. PAVILION OF CHARLES V ........... 
Tue Atcazar Garpens. PaviLion anp Poot or Joan THE Map 
THE ALCAZAR GARDENS. STAIR OF POLYCHROME TILES....... 
PLAN oF THE DuKeE or MEDINACELI’S PALACE AND GARDEN 
Bee iM ACEL! (GARDEN. PioT A............050ce cence eee 
SreviemINACELI GARDEN. Puor B.:...:........2..-..00--- 
Meee impinAcet: GarpEN. Prors C anp D................. 
ie irpinAcEen! GARDEN. Detraits or Prot C............. 
ate WIEDINACELI GARDEN, Pitot E. Ciay Court ,......... 
Pie MEDINACELL GARDEN, Prot FE. Free PLaNTING........ 
Peeeror tHe Casa pe Duour pe ALva, SEVILLE ........... 
Powe ARDEN OF THE ALVA) PALACE. <:.... 0... .00.20 0 0s» 
Deeiereat PATIO OF THE Ava PALACE... ...........6..400 
Tue Atva Patio, witH [Ron GRILLES Towarps THE GARDEN 
Semiee vy ( VERLOOKING THE ALVA PATIO. ........0... 400000 
Srna PATIO IN THE ALVA PALACE....... 24006000 00 wees 
Meeeniys PATIO SEEN FROM THE GALLERY.........-......- 
Mitein dUisA- PARK, SEVILLE. Cypress ARCH .............- 
Reece bisa Park. Prercora 1s Waite Stucco........... 
Meera isa PARK, Liny PoND AND ISLAND..........+.... 
MaApIA Luisa ParK. WINTER ViEW oF Lity Ponp......... 
MeeaTA  1UISA PARK. QUADRANGLE ..........:. ee Og 


20 LIST OF JLLUSTRATIONS 


Maria Luisa Park. OvutTpoor Reapine Room <.....7,5.598 249 
Maria Luisa’ Park. Srucco: Detatu sa7 250s eee 250 
Rear Door anp WINDOW OPENING ON AN ABANDONED GARDEN 250 
Museo Provinctat. DETAIL oF THE GARDEN >... eee 267 
CALLE DE GuZMAN EL BuENo. LoGGiA AND GARDEN ........ 258 
CALLE DE GUZMAN. EL Bueno: Rar GARDEN, 7.5. eee 259 
PALACE OF THE MARQUES DE VIANA.  LOGGIA <2 7.2.) ee 261 
Tue VianA GarRDEN. WHITE WALLS SOFTENED BY VINES ... 262 
Tue Viana GarpDEN. LOOKING FROM THE BALCONY ......... 263 
Tue Viana GARDEN. Biue Woopen GATE. 2.72 eee 264 
Tire Picrure or Picnic, DATED 1809 £2... Fe 265 
CLOISTER OF THE CONVENTO DE SAN FRancisco, PALMA ..... 273 
Patio OF THE ALMUDAINA OR MoorisH Roya Patace, Parma 274 
Patio oF THE Casa Lastre, PALMA... 00.004) er 275 
PaTio OF THE VivoT PALACE, PALMA...) 23... 200 276 
Casa or Don Juan MARoqusEs, PALMA. ..:...2. 2250 eee 27 
PaTIO OF THE VERI PALACE, PALMA ©... .:,.>.-. 32 278 
Patro OvERLOOKING GARDEN AT La GRANJA................ 283 
Patio at Raxa. Tue Despuic’ CouNTRY SEAT). 9 pee 284 
Raxa. Estate oF Carpinat Despuic. THE RESERVIOR.... 285 
Tue GarpENn Stair AT RAXA.) 40.2...) e ee 286 
THe GARDEN aT Raxa. MonNUMENTAL STAIR... 005 eae eee, 
AuraBiA. AN ESTATE ON THE Roap To SOLLER, Majorca... 288 
THe ApproacH To ALFABIA SEEN FROM WITHIN THE PaTio.. 289 
THe GarRDEN PERGOLA’ AT ALFABIA].2., 2.42 ee 290 
THE GaRDEN GaTE AT ALFABIA. ...... 44.0). =n 291 
Son sa Forteza, Majorca’... 2... 62.2005 oy 292 
Son sa Fortreza, Upper TERRACE ..<.., 722.9 293 
Son Brerca, MAJORCA... 6... sas eee ee 294 
Son Berea, Patio AND FACADE « -¢, 12.70.1550 295 
GARDENS OF THE VILLA RuBERT, Parma. View oF SEA..... 296 
GARDENS OF THE VILLA RUBERT, ACCESSORIES...) eee 297 
THE ToMatTo TERRACES AT BANALBUFAR, Mayjorca.......... 298 
LINE-CUTS 

Pace 
Patio Wak Laip IN GREY AND Wuite PEBBLES, GRANADA... 61 
Usepa. Postern Gate. In SMALL GARDEN .>.. 97) ee 62 
Marsie Fountain, Patace or Marques DE PENAFLOoR, Ecija 65 
SEcTIONS .oF DrvipInc. WALLS: . /.2.55. 7-2. 70 
TiLtED Hoops ovER GARDEN ENTRANCES, SEVILLE ........... 75 
PLAN AND SECTION OF PoLYCHROME TILE Poo., SEVILLE..... 83 
GaRDEN ENTRANCE SHOWING UsrE oF ‘TiLED Hoops, SEvILLE 86 
We.i-Heap or Brick anp Stucco, HecijA... 2.2 eae 118 
PLAN OF THE GENERALIFE, GRANADAs..... 107) 0. eee ISI 
THe Acosta GaRDEN. Stupy IN Retaininc WALIS......... 187 
PLAN OF THE ALcazaR GARDENS...) 000.5) oe 197 
Detail, Puan, REAR GaRDENS, MEDINACELI PALACE......... 220 
Museo ProvinciAL, SEVILLE. PLAN oF TILED GARDEN...... 256 


PLAN OF THE PALAcE oF Marques DE VIANA, CORDOVA..... 260 


- ANDALUSIA 


5 - 


CHAPTER I 


CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF SPANISH 
GARDENS 


UMEROUS and beautiful must have been the 


gardens of Andalusia during the Mohammedan 


régime. T’o quote but one contemporary, Eben 
Said, a Moor of Granada who traveled through southern 
Spain and northern Africa in the thirteenth century: 
“<The splendour of Andalusia appears to have spread to 
Tunis, where the Sultan is constructing palaces and 
planting gardens in our manner. All his architects are 
natives of Andalusia, likewise his gardeners.’’ Small 
wonder that the Sultan should have summoned garden 
experts from Spain, for the treatise written a century 
before by the Sevillian Moor, Abuzacaria, with its two 
chapters devoted to ornamental shrubs and plants for the 
garden, was Still the agrarian Bible of Tunis, Turkey, 
Egypt, Arabia, and Syria. 

But in that same century, when Tunis was learning 
from Andalusia, the gardens whose fame had spread so 
far fell to new owners. Not only gardens, but all agri- 
culture, was neglected. ‘The Christians let the extensive 
and very scientific irrigation syStem of the Moors fall 
into disuse, and Southern Spain became, by comparison 
with its former flourishing State, a waste. ‘To-day, the 
only Moorish sites Still dedicated to gardens are the 
Alcazar (The Castle) in Seville and the Generalife in 


Granada. These, in spite of alterations and long periods 
25 


26 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


of abandonment, preserve much of their original charac- 
ter. In addition, there are several simpler untouched 
spots like the Patio de los Naranjos (orange trees) in 
Cordova and another of similar name in Seville, both 
having been the gardens of the principal mosques, and, 
therefore, the counterpart of the Christian cloister. 

When the Spaniards who domiciled themselves in 
the south emerged, as did other Europeans, from feudal 
insecurity and began to build themselves palaces and 
gardens, these were constructed by Moorish artisans and 
specialists. Naturally such works followed Moorish 
tradition but were modified slightly to suit the new 
masters. For this reason the few ear/y Spanish gardens 
we are able to present are probably more sympathetic to 
European taste than would be the genuinely oriental, 
could the latter be found. Dating from this period, the 
gardens of the Casa de las Rejas de Don Gomez in 
Cordova and of the Pz/atos and Duefas palaces in Seville 
are the best examples. 

Happily Andalusian garden-making has entered its 
renaissance. In the revival a foreigner is playing a 
prominent part. We refer to the excellent work done 
by M. ForreStier, a Frenchman, who has worked with 
Spanish architects in laying out the new municipal park 
in Seville. Here and in other modern work, not only 
have they carried on the old tradition, but have intro- 
duced new ideas with taste and discretion. 

The Andalusian garden is an urban, not a rural, cre- 


ation. It exists in and near the towns. In Moorish days, 


Cini Cali is PIGSsAN DYE ES 27 


the caliphs having accorded very special encouragement 
to agriculture and horticulture, the vegas of Granada, 
Cordova, Seville, Murcia, and Valencia had been con- 
verted from arid Stretches into smiling orchards and 
gardens; but the Spaniards on conquering the same 
appear to have huddled in true medieval fashion close to 
the towns. ‘The fields were abandoned. ‘True, Christian 
fear of the hoStile population was not unjustifiable, but 
even after the Mohammedans were driven from their 
last Stronghold, Granada (1492), the vegas were not put 
under cultivation. Insecurity was then due to Christian 
nobles nourishing their feuds, and commoners living as 
highwaymen. Even when, in time, these conditions 
changed for better, the Spaniard seems to have had small 
inclination to be a country gentleman in the old Roman 
or modern English sense. He probably had his vz//a 
rustica to which he repaired in harvest time; this is 
perpetuated in the cortzjo of the modern Andalusian, but 
it is a practical farm, not a mansion and garden. At any 
rate the old gardens that have survived are in, or close to, 
cities. In Seville we have the grounds of the d/cazar ; 
overlooking Granada, the Genera/ife. Cordova’s great 
garden, Medinat-az-Zahra, now but a memory, lay only 
three miles from the mosque; if it be true that the 
Cordova of the Caliphate was twenty miles in extent, 
then Medinat muSt have been within the city. 

There are many reasons why the gardens of Andalusia 
should have so little in common with the rest of 


Europe. Merely to say that grass is not indigenous 


28 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


explains much; further, the climate is utterly dissimilar 
—heat, no frost, and but little moisture. InStead of 
every effort being made to catch and hold the sun’s 
rays, to avoid them is the prime object. Plants and 
human beings must be cooled and shaded. Garden 
beds are sunken—real depressions; the raised flower bed 
so liked in France would wilt under an Andalusian sun. 
Water being far from abundant, there is no prodigal 
display of it. 

Even with natural conditions less different, it 1s 
unlikely that the Mohammedan would have evolved 
anything resembling the vast English or French park or 
the highly architectonic villa garden of Italy. His 
attitude towards family life was reflected in his garden 
and in the Spanish derived from it. The Asiatic 
tendency to seclude women found its expression in a 
series of walled courts behind the house, not in a great 
open park surrounding it. Engravings of Andalusian 
gardens, had such been left to posterity, would not have 
been enlivened by richly dressed ladies lunching on the ~ 
green and served by cavaliers on bended knee; nor 
would they show outdoor playhouses for children, nor 
‘booths and tents to serve for the amusement of my 
lady and her guests.’’ Such convivialities were appropri- 
ate north of the Pyrenees but not in Andalusia. Not 
recreation nor grandeur, but privacy, shade, fragrance, 
repose, were the desiderata. 

Another Mohammedan tenet which had its effe& on 
the garden was that figure sculpture, the chief embellish- 


MEDINACELI PALACE, SEVILLE 
Rear Garden 


NADA 


ace 


E GENERALIFE, GRA 


“H 


T 
ase serving three different terr 


ARDENS OF 


G 


s 


c 


Brick stair 


GARDENS OF THE GENERALIFE, GRANADA 
Upper Parterre 


GARDEN OF HOUSE IN THE PLAZA DEL ALFARO, SEVILLE 


©, “eR as, 


sarees A eee aon PA 


GARDEN OF DON MIGUEL SANCHEZ DALP, SEVILLE 
What one sees of sculpture today is posterior to the sixteenth century 


GARDEN OF DON JOSE ACOSTA, GRANADA .- 
Combining Spanish and Italian features 


UIEJUNOJ [RIIUID B WOIy SuNKIpes syyed YU JNO PIF] s} aiMsojoue You 
ATIATS ‘ALISYAAIND AHL AO NHAUVO 


ARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 
ided with recessed openings, giving pleasant vistas from one enclosure to another 


G 


are prov 


Garden walls 


2 ee 


iain esis. 


GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 
One of the many stairs of polychrome tiles 


CIHAk AGT ERISTICS AND TYPES M7 


ment of old Roman and Renaissance gardens, was 
forbidden to the Moor; what one sees of it to-day in 
Andalusia is poSterior to the sixteenth century. The 
type of house also influenced the garden treatment— 
facade plain, all ornament being concentrated within 
to be admired by the owner and not by the passer-by. 
This being the case, the garden was not “ architectural- 
ized’ out of all relation to the simple dwelling. In 
other words, the art of architecture was not confused 
with that of gardening. ‘There were no tempiettos, 
exedras, imposing ramps, Stairways; nor was the Anda- 
lusian, Moor, or Spaniard intereSted in the medieval 
treillage that the French Renaissance developed almo%t 
to excess. With an arcade, horseshoe or round, visible 
from his garden, he was content. In short, he used 
another alphabet. Even a similarity of climate between 
Spain and the country north of the Pyrenees could 
hardly have produced a Du Cerceau or a Le Notre. 
Andalusian gardens are of two types, flat and hill- 
side. Having said that gardens are to be sought in or 
near cities rather than forming part of isolated country 
seats, one need not be surprised to hear that the once 
great cities of Seville and Cordova on the broad banks 
of the Guadalquivir are the best centres for Studying 
the flat garden; Granada and Ronda, high in the 
Sema, tor the hillside. ‘There aresonly these two 
extreme types. Gently rolling Stretches dotted with 


bouquets d’ arbres do not enter into the scheme of Spanish 


topography. 


38 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


The theory of the flat garden is a series of outdoor 
rooms walled apart by masonry and open to the sky ; 
sometimes they are again subdivided by lower walls of 
hedge, or are quite roofed over by low-growing trees, 
always evergreens; in the centre almost invariably a 
fountain. ‘The enclosures are referred to as patios, like 
that within the house, and are denominated according 
to the plant principally featured—patio of the orange 
trees, of the black bamboo, of the palm, of the box, 
etc. This conception of the garden, it will be seen, 
does not accommodate long alleys nor large pools of 
water. Squarish in form, the quadrangles rarely exceed 
forty feet to a side (we are speaking now of the private 
garden, not of a royal park like the Alcazar). Dividing 
walls are of white stucco and have, besides the conneé¢t- 
ing opening, several arched windows with grilles or rejas 
through which pleasant vistas can be had. Walks are 
either paved with glazed tiles or river pebbles, or are 
made of coloured earth tamped firmly down, an expedi- 
ent also practiced by Italian and Dutch gardeners. 
Around the flower beds and circular openings for trees 
are borders of coloured tile. The object of this series 
of walled quadrangles is obvious; except for the few 
meridian hours of the day the walls, eighteen to twenty 
feet high, are casting their grateful shadow on either 
one side or the other. 

Back of the garden for recreation was the Awuerta, 
for vegetables and fruit. Here rigid distin¢étion was 


observed between the useful and the ornamental. 


GHARACTERISTICS°AND -“DY-PES 39 


Flowers seldom intruded into its precincts. In contrast to 
the garden the Awerta was quite devoid of shade—open to 
the sun to ripen quickly the successive crops of the year. 

The hillside garden is an alternation of sequestered 
courts and open terracing, the topography determining 
which predominates. ‘The site was chosen for its views 
townward, and afforded the Moorish gardener the 
opportunity to display that which he most excelled in— 
the arrangement and distribution of water. Here, too, 
walls played a great part, introduced even where not 
structurally necessary just because their white expanse 
was apparently considered an indispensable background. 
Outer or confining walls, especially if they surmounted 
an inaccessible cliff-side, were generally pierced with 
arched c/airvoyées to reduce the distant view to a series 
of separate compositions. Another note of great interest 
was the stairway connecting the different levels—some- 
times of azulejos, sometimes of unglazed flat tiles, some- 
times of ordinary brick (the Roman type). 

Both types of garden, flat and declivitous, were 
cheap to construct and to maintain. Even allowing for 
the cost of quarrying and terracing a hillside, the fact 
that no rich materials entered into its embellishment made 
it comparatively inexpensive—but little or no marble, no 
carved balustrading, no ru&ticated walls, no mosaics, no 
porphyry—all this meant much in the way of economy. 

Another observation that applies to both types of 
garden is that green is a predominating note and that 


deciduous trees are practically absent. Among trees 


40 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


that hold their green the decorative and odorous citrous 
family were favourites; next came the more serious 
cypress and the low-growing box. ‘The orange tree, 
needless to say, could always be bedded and was not 
planted in tubs as in less friendly climates. It might be 
formally set out in round pockets and the circles con- 
nected by open conduits; or planted close so that the 
foliage formed a dense canopy; or plashed against the 
wall. Other fruit-bearing trees, though beautiful in 
flower, appear to have been ignored because of their 
naked season. The cypress of tall symmetrical habit 
and planted in pairs lent itself to training into an arch. 
Box was used prodigally, as it can be only in a garden 
where abundant bloom is not expected, for it, like the 
eucalyptus, consumes all the Strength of the soil—box 
in form of hedges, box in isolated clumps, box in single 
bushes clipped into a sphere or other geometric form. 
Of elaborate topiary work there was none. 

In this respect, as the Moor seldom fashioned the 
image of any living thing in the round, we may presume 
this to be his reason for avoiding an art familiar to the 
Persians and Egyptians, from whom, especially the 
former, the Moors borrowed extensively. The only 
attempt we have seen in an old garden at form and 
delineation in box is a parterre composed of the insignia 
of the great Spanish military orders, and this device 
must necessarily date from Christian not Moorish régime. 

But if the Moor avoided the practice of topiary he 


was not averse to clipped evergreens in the form of 


Shei Gt WON a ESE EOS 


GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 
A cypress arch emphasizing the main walk 


42 


RRA DE CORDOVA 
The cypress of tall symmetrical habit lends itself to arching 


LAS ERMITAS, SIE 


43 


CORDOVA 


GARDEN OF THE MARQUES DE VIANA, 


Arcade of Cedar 


ic 


Goth 


44 


¥ 


| Warmer 
= OP 


»~ 


Theda eae MecRMMRAMML oH TGCEE ok Pekan car nec Bek ane cet hee emma taietectadk esac. e eae 
estes 8 oe , - EY es tars i is a 4 ff 


et nae IR RR NS 


eats 
We Seon 


mee 


Laconia 
ee 


I 


GARDEN OF THE MARQUES DE VIANA, CORDOVA 


Wall openings overlooking the street 


45 


PARQUE DE MARIA LUISA, SEVILLE 
A cypress arcade 


ger Prd re 3 
ee re 


QUINTA DE ARRIZAFA, CORDOVA 
Brick steps from a lower to a higher enclosure 


os «ge ye 


at ee oe ee 
ee tO hs “0° CO ie 
ear EG Bis fae SA ~ 


GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 
Manner of planting at the base of a wall 


GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 
Brick path leading to the pavilion of Charles V 


CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES 49 


labyrinths. Box, Cypress, myrtle, juniper, sometimes 
holly, were used, preference going to the aromatic greens. 
In fact, the maze so appealed to the oriental mind that 
hardly a garden was without one, though it might have 
been no more than twelve feet square. A specially fine 
maze formed part of the Alcazar gardens as originally 
laid out, but during one of the many changes wrought 
by the Emperor Charles V it was decided to uproot it 
and substitute an Italian parterre. The Emperor however 
appears to have fancied the Moorish maze sufficiently to 
deter its deStruction until the plan had been carefully 
drawn up and baked into a tile panel ; this tile was then 
embedded in the pavement of his little pavilion, where it- 
may Still be seen. The labyrinth is known to have been 
replanted elsewhere according to this plan, but only to 
again come to grief, for the one seen to-day at the 
extreme rear of the garden is of quite late date. 

Flower beds are not of prime importance in the 
Spanish garden, flowering plants being displayed in pots 
and the colour scheme changed frequently. Every 
flower known to northerners grows in Andalusia, and in 
addition, the sub-tropical list; no month of the year is 
without its bloom. Roses and chrysanthemums when 
grown against a southern wall bloom all winter long. 
The amaranth is more graceful and feathery and vivid 
than we have seen it elsewhere; the cockscomb attains 
the proud length of eighteen inches; the geranium is of 
giant proportions as in Australia, and often pleached 


against a wall to a height of eighteen or twenty feet. 


50 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


A weird exotic plant called monstruo delictoso has big, 
curiously perforated leaves and a long heavy tendril 
like coiled wire; though hardy-looking it requires 
much water. 

Many of the exotic plants were brought to Spain by 
Abderrhaman I, first of the Omaiyad sultans, who was 
a great horticulturist and who sent to Syria and India for 
rare shrubs and seeds never before planted in European 
soil. It was this sultan who introduced the date palm 
into Spain; likewise the pomegranate (/a granada), which, 
after the Christians wrested the Moorish kingdom of 
Granada from the Mohammedans, became a national 
emblem. According to the book of Abuzacaria (twelfth 
century), there had been brought into Spain jasmine and 
blue and yellow roses. | The jasmine still perfumes the 
air, but the blue and yellow roses appear to have received 
no Christian encouragement. 

Grass, tender, succulent grass such as makes the 
northern lawn, is unknown in Andalusia. If a few 
plots have been coaxed into life in the modern 
Seville gardens this is an exception due to special pro- 
vision for watering them. The axiom “ when at a loss 
what to plant use grass’’ did not help the Moorish 
gardener. But he devised another sort of green carpet 
— wandering Jew, ground ivy and myrtle, Iceland moss, 
hen and chickens, all planted thick and constantly 
snipped back into flatness. In this way a whole bed of 
green is obtained, as well as neat, orderly borders. 


* For the small flat garden the system of planting is 


CHaykACPERISTICS AND. TYPES a 


necessarily concentrated, since a large part of the area is 
given over to tiled pavement. The square, or patio, 
is laid out with paths, four to eight radiating from the 
central fountain. Borders may be of the green sort just 
described or of coloured tiles (azulejos) alone; or the Strip 
of green may be confined within two rows of azulejos. 
The bed area is usually green save for one or two flower- 
ing plants; or it may be of black earth kept well turned 
and dotted with two or three plants; or more rarely it 
may be a flower bed all of one kind, thus giving a definite 
colour group. Where the green bed has a tree in its 
centre a generous circle of earth is left around the trunk 
and this earth is frequently hoed up in order to invite 
air and moisture into the soil. 

This same general layout can be enlarged upon—box 
hedge, for inStance, within a curb of tile or cement, 
lower border of dense ivy or myrtle, then turned-up 
earth, then shrubs, and finally the central circle for the 
tree. Each patio is a complete unit of pattern at small 
scale and capable of repetition, which, after all, is the 
underlying theory of all oriental design. 

Where the patios of the flat garden are set out in 
rows of orange, magnolia, or pepper trees, the area is 
carefully lined off by irrigating furrows which are kept 
neatly banked. In the case of large trees like the 
magnolia (which here attains great size), a dense little 
grove of bamboo is planted under them, inviting by its 
additional coolness ; or a bed of shade-loving plants. 


It is interesting to examine the manner of planting 


£2 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 
around the base of the dividing walls. <A Strip of earth 


about two feet wide is excavated to a foot or more below 
the level of the perimeter path, and down here, where 
their roots cannot raise the tiles or bricks of the walk, 
are planted the vines or trees that are to be pleached 
against the wall. Among the former are the bougain- 
villea, lantana (which here is both a large shrub and a 
vine), and the grape; among the latter, the orange, 
lemon, geranium, and the cypress, this kept well wired 
and clipped back flat to the wall. The intere&t of the 
cypress or other evergreens is enhanced by the patterns 
of the dark stems against the white Stucco and the limited 
amount of green which is permitted to show itself. 
Where the purple or orange of flower or fruit enters into 
the decoration less attention is paid to the design of the 
stems. Of low planting against walls there was prac- 
tically none. Considering that this space would be 
devoted to an herbaceous border of rich and varied bloom 
in an English garden, a greater difference in the two 
ways of treating it could hardly be imagined. 

We have as yet said nothing about the walks that 
intersect the small units of the flat garden, and always in 
Straight lines. Most often they are paved in tiles, and 
tiles asa garden embellishment will be taken up presently: 
but also, and with very chic effect, they are made of a 
bright ochre clay well rolled down. Between the yel- 
low path and the black earth of the planted bed there is 
often a Strip of reddish earth held in place by a tile edg- 


ing or cement coping. This intereSting and decorative 


GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 
The theory of the flat garden is a series of walled enclosures open to the s! y 


oo 


el AN ASST 
ove,  gaeneeeaese 


i 


* esae. gavil 


GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 
Main pool at the highest level of the garden 


PARQUE DE MARIA LUSIA, SEVILLE 
Brick rotunda adorned with tiles 


56 


Ry’ REGALO AMO es, 74, FPR NRE pe, 


GENERALIFE GARDENS, GRANADA 
Green was the predominating note in the Spanish garden 


a7 


GENERALIFE GARDENS, GRANADA 


Pebbled pavement at entrance 


RANADA 


ENERALIFE GARDENS, G 
The site of the hillside garden was chosen for its views townward 


> 
a 


C 


GENERALIFE GARDENS, GRANADA 


ter carried down the top of the parapet by means of a tiledrunlet 


ings, wa 


lar land 


ir witb circu 


Sta 


CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES 59 


use of coloured earths, renewing them frequently that 
they may look fresh, appears to be of Persian origin, and 
was revived in Europe in Renaissance gardens through 
the influence, probably, of Moorish Spain. Two attrac- 
tive examples of the yellow clay paths are the Convento 
de la Merced garden and that of the Medinaceli palace, 
both in Seville. 

Water, seen and heard, was a more indispensable part 
of the garden design than plants themselves. Arid Spain 
was made fertile by Moorish irrigation. The Moors 
were great hydraulicians, and what one sees to-day of 
scientific irrigation is but a miserably small fraction of 
what they left when driven out of the Peninsula. In 
using water as a decorative adjunct to the garden the 
scarcity of the supply influenced the manner of its appli- 
cation. A very little had to be made to look like a great 
deal. Artificial lakes therefore could not be dreamed of, 
nor even pools of any size with their aquatic plants and 
birds and their little islands connected by pretty toy 
bridges. Water was too precious to lie silent in a broad 
expanse; it had to be confined in terra-cotta canals and 
made to murmur through all its course. There was no 
periodical flooding of the entire area, nor wasteful flowing 
through earth ditches; instead, the thin stream was held 
to its course so that no drop escaped to nourish where not 
necessary. Diminutive conduits ran from tree to tree, 
from shrub to shrub. In the case of terraces, besides the 
open canal disappearing under the Steps, the concave 


ramp of the Stair itself might conduct water from an 


60 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


upper fountain to a lower. Whatever served this pur- 
pose, it was open and visible, and the water was made to 
show itself in as many places as possible before it was 
carried off to the more utilitarian Auerfa. 

This endeavor to squeeze decorative benefit out of 
the last drop has resulted in special designing of fountains 
and basins. The pool of a spouting fountain, for instance, 
is not drained as it would be elsewhere; that is to say, 
there is not a waste below the rim of the basin, for then 
the effect of the play of water on the edge would be lost. 
As it is, it glides over, sparkles in the sun and increases 
the luStre of the tiles in so doing, then is caught in an 
outer gutter and carried off in an open canal. Basins of 
marble or Stone have their outer brim faceted, by which 
device the volume of water spilling over seems augmented. 
Still another trick to produce the same illusion is to 
make the water reflect. Fountains are of glazed tile not 
merely because baked and enameled earthenware was a 
popular and inexpensive material, but also because its 
glazed surface makes a thin film of sunlit water gliding 
over seem greater in volume. ‘Tiled paths are sprayed 
from minute jets not only to freshen and cool them 
but also to make them reflect and sparkle like a flow- 
ing Stream. 

These economical yet effective ways of using water 
in Spanish gardens offer a marked contrast to the copious 
jets d’eau and rushing cascades of the north (pathetically 
dry except on féte days). Wherever water has to be 
“used with due regardful thrift,’’ the Andalusian way Is 


CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES 61 


worth studying. In our own southwest, where it costs 
more to water the garden than to heat the house, it offers 
a valuable suggeStion; and, indeed, in more than the 
use of water, for the similarity of climate and growth 


also favors the Spanish tradition. 


y | 
Py) ee 
Cais 


is i vie ere SSS LS = = a 
YS * 2 2 = w= 

i a AN . We 
if N s aA Q = A 
Cy | =? S Fs, 

rs SSS Se sass ass 


TWO UNITS OF A PATIO WALK LAID IN GREY AND WHITE PEBBLES, GRANADA 


‘ —_——SE tt——= 


— =i 


& 


oe 
|| <n 


UBEDA 
Postern gate in a small garden. Hood of green and white tiles 


63 


GENERALIFE GARDENS, GRANADA 
Central canal of principal enclosure 


64 


RONDA 


m terrace to terrace 


EY MORO, 


SA DEL R 


THE CA 


OF 


ater carried 


EN 


GARDI 


in runlets fro 


Ww 


65 


(OCT OTTTNTU 
TMU NE 
VosDdedd Ds DAV RPA ADA 
9 2 3 Zs 6 of feet 


BAROQUE MARBLE FOUNTAIN, PALACE OF THE MARQUES DE PENAFLOR, ECIJA 


THE ALHAMBRA, GRANADA 
Marble fountain consisting of a Moorish tazza supported on a Renaissance pedestal 


IT 


She iF tai 
ws 


~ 


GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 


Insignia of the military orders planted in box in the sixteenth 
century 


S-9-¢ =~ 


A GROUP OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ANDALUSIAN TILES 


70 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


either as a solid paneled door or worked into spindles. 
In Cordova the wooden gate is generally painted blue. 
A picturesque wall adjunét which one would lke to 
meet more often is the gate hood, or fejaroz. These 
little eaves, covered with gutter tiles or with alternating 
green and white tiles glazed, are supported on carved pine 
corbels or on iron brackets. Sometimes it is a niche in 
the wall, instead of a gate, that is provided with a 
tejaroz. Such a niche probably held, in Moorish days, 
a decorative vase or a basin for ablutions, but the 
Spaniard refurnished it with a Statue of the Virgin. 
Well niches, too, feature the wall, though generally the 
well is free-Standing and in the patio of the house. 

A detail that receives much attention is the pattern 
of the vine itself against the wall—clipped back to 
expose the trunk and its branching, and the foliage kept 
in well-studied patches. 

In pretentious gardens, dividing walls serve also as 
a means of circulation, their thickness being sufficient 


to permit of a walk on the top, with protecting 


Sections of various dividing walls surmounted by promenades 


GARDEN ACCESSORIES 71 


parapets. Arranged thus at the level of a second-Story 
window or terrace of the house, they invite the inmates 
to promenade and survey the layout below. In the 
case of different levels these promenades are connected 
by Stairs flanked by stepped parapets; while in the flat 
garden a variety of level is simulated by variety in the 
height of the walls, with connecting Steps as described. 
This in itself lends much interest. 

In the Alcazar gardens, Seville, a specially fine 
treatment may be seen. On the north side a heavy 
semi-fortified wall marking in part the original confines 
has a promenade and bench parapets on top, and is 
broken every hundred feet or so by a Stout buttress 
whose top makes an agreeable little pavilion. Below, a 
shallow arcaded gallery is pierced in the thickness of 
the wall, like a triforium in the nave wall of a church. 
Open only on the. south side overlooking the garden, 
this arcade is penetrated by the sun on its low winter 
arc and is at the same time shielded against the north 
wind; while in summer it is an equally agreeable 
promenade because it is always in shadow. A creation 
of Peter the Cruel, this was his favourite walk. As his 
Moorish builders left it — plain white stucco — it mus 
have been dignified and beautiful; but centuries later 
it was made to suffer a revetment of coarsely vermicu- 
lated blocks. Some are in yeso (stucco) and the whole 
work is crude. Now the wall is neither Moorish nor 
Italian. 


Enclosing a hillside garden on the side least acces- 


72 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


sible, the wall is often an open arcade for its whole 
length, thus extending the garden view to the country 
beyond. ‘The recesses are provided with seats. 

The other item which plays an important réle in 
the Andalusian garden is baked earthenware in the form 
of azulejos and flower-pots, glazed and unglazed. ‘The 
pots Stand in never-ending lines much as if they had 
been arranged by children. Garden walks are edged 
with them, flower beds are designed with them, 
parapets are crowned with them. In ordinary cases 
they are the usual terra-cotta colour ; but when expected 
to form a part of a definite colour scheme they are 
painted and glazed accordingly, and take their place 
along with the polychrome tiles in the colour layout. 
Some fortunate gardeners are supplied with pots of 
several colours and this facilitates a complete change 
from time to time in the decorative scheme. 

Decoration by means of polychrome tiles is the 
principal note of individuality in the Spanish garden. 
It is no exaggeration to say that colour is more often 
supplied by them than by flowers. Successfully to 
employ these coloured squares is an art in itself and the 
tyro cannot hope to acquire it at the first essay : it takes 
experience. ‘T’o overdo is the temptation. Even with 
many good ancient examples before their eyes, the 
present-day advocates of the azulejo in modern Sevillian 
construction are using it on a lavish scale and with little 
discrimination. The principal objects made of azulejos 


were fountains, pools, benches, Steps, and walks. In 


PALACE AT OSUNA 


DUCAL 


Garden Gate 


LAS ERMITAS, SIERRA DE CORDOVA 


The white-washed wall is the setting for every garden 


== a 


ihe ar 


og MU I 


TILED HOODS OVER GARDEN ENTRANCES, SEVILLE 


ll ue 2 
~ ai le 


oe oie 4 - 


auYM pue UIaI3 ayVUIAI[e JO sajn-joor pue sjog ‘sued payod jo uoisnyord yeoidA L, 
ATIAAS ‘OTINUAW JO SNAGUVO AHL NI NOIIIAVd 


GARDEN ACCESSORIES Fi 


their construction flat tiles were used, never moulded as 
was the case in Italy. 

The oldest Moorish tile decoration found js like a 
mosaic, slabs of solid colour having been tediously cut 
into small geometric shapes and fitted together to make 
the design. Later, two simpler processes were adopted : 
the first consisted in drawing the pattern on the wet 
square with grease and manganese, which made a dry 
line (cuerda seca) that prevented the colours from 
running together; the second meant pressing a metal 
matrix into the wet tile, the raised line thus formed 
acting as a barrier between the different colours. This 
process is named not for the line but for the hollow 
(cuenca) between. For a long time cuerda seca and 
cuenca tiles kept to geometric and floral designs, but 
after a while animal forms were added. 

Early in the sixteenth century a monk from Pisa came 
to Seville and introduced free painting on tiles in the Della 
Robbia manner. Pzsanos were soon turned out by the 
thousands and supplanted all others. A yellow ground was 
general with blue as the dominating note in the design. 
The Moorish tradition of geometric and small-scale floral 
patterns was thrown to the winds and decorative compo- 
sitions in imitation of easel pictures became the vogue. 
In the baroque period such pictures (Murillo, of course, 
being a prime favourite) were incrusted in garden walls 
and protected by a fejaroz hood ; even whole altars of tiles 
were set up in gardens, their devotional lamps suspended 


from the hood and twinkling in its shadow. 


78 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


The making of azulejos is Still the prime industry 
of Seville. Travellers who are interested may visit the 
chief factories in Triana, the ancient potters’ darrio 
across the river. Here, besides garden vases, are made 
red, buff, and greenish unglazed tiles for the floor, and 
azulejos for wainscoting, paths, fountains, and benches— 
pressed, alas, by machines. The manufacturers are wise, 
probably, in seldom augmenting their pattern books by 
modern designs; and Andalusia and South America (to 
which there is a large exportation), equally wise in 
contenting themselves with the old Moorish and 
Renaissance motifs. It must be confessed that the 
greens and blues are not as rich and limpid as those 
which the sixteenth century knew how to produce, and 
that the new designs are sharp and the colours assertive 
beside tiles that have weathered three centuries; but 
there is no doubt that the new products will outlive 
this reproach. Those who want mellowness and delicacy 
in modern azulejos will have to wre&tle hard with the 
manufacturer, who will argue, and quite aptly, that the 
fine old bits admired to-day in the Alcazar gardens were 
once as garish as any in his warerooms. 

Considering first the tile fountain. Unlike its 
marble counterpart it is not meant to catch the eye from 
a distance, but to melt into the garden colour scheme. 
When combined with marble, as occasionally, the latter 
is subservient to the azulejos. Very often no part of 
the fountain except the actual jet rises above the level 


of the walk. The basin is shallow, six inches deep or 


GARDEN ACCESSORIES 79 


so; it may be round, star-shaped, or octagonal, sunken 
or raised. As previously explained, the water is allowed 
to fall over the edge and is drawn off by an exterior 
gutter. In this manner the surface of the tiles is kept 
wet and their reflective power increased. By designing 
the squares for the botton of the basin in zigzags and 
interlacing curves the water appears to have more 
movement. If placed at the intersection of two paths 
paved also in polychrome such a fountain loses much of 
its decorative value; it should be considered somewhat 
like a Stone to be set in a brooch. Be& seen from a 
height, the flat fountain is the type most employed in 
patios and garden enclosures that can be looked into 
from a promenade wall. Sometimes the entire fountain 
is sunken, looking deeper and cooler therefore. The 
finest of this sort is in the patio of the asylum for 
retired priests (Los Padres V. enerables) in Seville. Here 
the basin and fountain are of marble, the surrounding 
treatment of tiles. 

Corresponding more in design to the typical Euro- 
pean conception is the raised fountain, but being executed 
in tiles it is devoid of moulded sections. In general, 
it consi$ts of a raised brim, often octagonal, and a 
central shaft and smaller basin of marble. Bearing out 
our suspicion that the Christians were more prone than 
the Moors to the use of coloured tiles, is the fact that 
nearly every raised fountain in the Alhambra is of 
marble alone. Similar to the tiled fountain but smaller 


in diameter is the well-curb of the house patio. The 


80 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


Moors had beautiful well-curbs of glazed pottery in one 
piece, generally grey-green, ornamented with raised 
patterning and inscriptions, but these are seen to-day 
only in museums, not in gardens. Clever facsimiles are 
made by certain Andalusian ceramic factories and soid 
as originals to tourists. 

Almo&t as numerous as the fountain is the tiled 
bench. Here, too, form is determined by the material, 
the bench being completely solid, with the face under 
the seat set back at an angle to accommodate the feet 
of the occupant. The seat has a slight pitch to throw 
off the water. Without a back the tiled bench is more 
graceful, particularly if free-Standing; but where there 
is a back its rigidity can be modified by embedding it 
in a hedge. Another type of bench is that projecting 
from a wall, its tiled back set flush with the Stucco sur- 
face. ‘The back is generally carried much higher than 
is necessary to protect one from the whitewash, and the 
upright panel is framed in a border of solid colour. By 
this arrangement bench and wall help each other dec- 
oratively, as the illustration of the Osborne garden 
shows (Calle de Guzman el Bueno, in Seville). 

The bench, like the fountain, is generally very 
colourful. Old ones may be seen in the Alcazar 
gardens made of Pisanos, yellow background, green 
and blue painting. Backed up by dense masses of box, 
the colour is rich and full of quality, but it must not 
be forgotten that much of the charm lies in the mel- 


lowness of the old tiles. To one experimenting with 


HOUSE IN THE CALLE GUZMAN EL BUENO, SEVILLE 
Garden Accessories in Folyshrome Tile 


LARGE STEPPED POOL IN POLYCHROME TILES 
ASYLUM FOR AGED PRIESTS (LOS VENERABLES), SEVILLE 


POOL LINED WITH BRICK AND POLYCHROME TILES, THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 


8 3 


aM Te MAN SNM Ge Ne S SIM 


ns BORER an GO A EES DE Se SO 

MUTT TTT TT Ret eSieSeSaae) | [polychrome | tile risers 
a 0, 0.0) 8.0.08 10.0.) wee ws, Wa AAO | 
ENTS! | | | GES [| 


W EA ROL a 
WL tT | | a 
Mor | BRSEii 

Scale of ke air NON a oe ga Ca 


PLAN AND SECTION OF POLYCHROME TILE POOL, LOS VENERABLES, SEVILLE 


SECTION 


es al 


TILED PATIO AND HOODED WELL WITH EARTH POCKETS AT THE SIDE FOR PLANTING, SEVILLE 


SEVILLE 


WITH BRICK EXEDRA 


DIMINUTIVE PATIO GARDEN 


86 


SONINAdO YAAO SGOOH GH TIIL AO ASA ONIMOHS ‘ATILATS “AONVULNA NAGUVD 


oe i a — 
\\\ KK \ ‘on 


ve 
, ie 
a 


/ 


2 a 

) a MU ‘ 

| oh = Ba Zi fill 
itl = te ro —~< -_ “i, 


IN 
fT : 


GARDEN ACCESSORIES 87 


this material it soon becomes evident that effeéts can 
be obtained with old tiles that would be less pleasing 
with new.  Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century units 
of every conceivable colour may be assembled with 
admirable results, whereas if the tiles were new consid- 
erable restraint would have to be praéticed. Good 
modern benches are seen in the Pargue de Maria Luisa 
in Seville—unglazed terra cotta coloured tiles with 
brilliant polychrome insets in the form of escutcheons 
or flower panels. 

In the matter of tiled walks one must be cautious; 
to create a too interesting pavement is a great temp- 
tation. The best old examples consist of unglazed 
oblongs measuring about five by eight inches, laid in 
basket-weave with a small coloured inset filling the in- 
terstices. This little two-inch square is decorated with 
some very simple device—the lion of Leon, the castle 
of Castile, the pomegranate of Granada, the nudo or 
knot of Seville, or a personal coat-of-arms. But the 
basket-weave precedent has been followed in wholesale 
fashion in. modern Sevillian work, prompting the 
question whether it is not possible to overdo even a 
good thing. Besides, in the old work there was more 
sense of relative fitness; secondary gardens and patios 
were not treated in the same quality of material and 
the same design as the more important units, and it is 
precisely this discrimination that one misses in the 
Seville revival. The architect lights upon an attractive 


pattern or layout and makes it serve through the whole 


88 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


house and garden with but little varying of design, and 
none at all ot quality or quantity. 

Another method practiced in the old gardens to en- 
liven monotone unglazed paths was to concentrate rich 
colour in an occasional panel the full width of the 
walk—geometric, floral, or heraldic. Even old broken 
tiles have been gathered up and laid mosaic fashion to 
form such a panel with good results. The insets are 
not regularly spaced, and their lack of formality is a 
relief after visiting a modern garden whose every path 
is laid in the basket-weave just described. 

Paths are further decorated by tile curbs of attractive 
colour; or by narrow tiled conduits passing through 
their centre. Curbs are generally of a single colour or 
of white alternating with a single colour; and the bot- 
tom of the little canal is often thus laid so that it too 
contributes to the scheme. 

In the gardens of the Alcazar and dating from the 
time of Charles V (1516-1556) there is a charming 
little pavilion treated in polychrome tiles. Such a fea- 
ture is a departure from Moorish precedent. Pavilions 
and gazebos formed no part of the Andalusian design; 
not even a tool-house to invite decorative treatment, 
for the custom was and Still is to Store all implements 
in the vaulted chambers underneath the house. Charles 
V's pavilion is square, arcaded on all sides, and has a 
rich dado of polychrome tiles. Inside walls are simi- 
larly treated; some of metallic lustre, and very precious. 


The ceiling is a media naranja (half orange) or typical 


GARDEN ACCESSORIES 8g 


Moorish wooden dome, while the outside roof is of 
ordinary gutter-tiles but with every fifth ridge glazed in 
blue and white. In&tances of this sort show that the 
Spanish garden can be made more catholic in taste 
without losing its special cachet. 

In planning an Andalusian garden it is well to follow 
a definite colour arrangement. As said before, more 
colour is supplied by the tiles than by the flowers. A 
fairly large garden might have all its bordering in alter- 
nate blue and white, or yellow and white; very effective 
is a combination of black and white. A Study of the 
oldest examples shows that not nearly so many colours 
were assembled in one enclosure as modern gardeners 
are inclined to use. 

Colour tiles are also applied to the conStruction of 
garden Stairs, the colour confined to the riser, while the 
nosing and tread are of unglazed earth colour; the same 
type of Stair is common in patios. A Stair extending 
between two terraces is made broad enough to accom- 
modate a border of flower-pots on each side. 

AlmoS’t as ubiquitous as the tiled walk is that of 
river pebbles laid in patterns——an attractive mosaic of 
deep purple, grey, and white. The effectiveness of this 
simple medium is surprising. It was not considered too 
cheap or commonplace even for royal precin¢ts, as wit- 
nesses the magnificent pebble escutcheon of Charles V 
in front of his fountain in the Alhambra Park. No 
Moorish example however is as elaborate as this, for in 


pebble pavements, as in all other bits of design, geo- 


go SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


metric patterns were the rule. Pebbles are also used for 
garden Steps, in combination with Stone nosing. Some- 
times the white unit is supplied by sheeps’ knuckles, 
but this, for some reason we have not inveStigated, is 
more general in the cloisters of Carthusian convents 
than in gardens. Occasionally the Stones are laid flat, but 
as arule they are set on edge and well grouted in cement. 
The Andalusian garden is essentially a well-kept 
garden. In physiognomy it is like the Andalusian him- 
self, who is clean-shaven, close-cropped, even to cutting 
back the hair from the temple to a rigid Straight line. 
His garden is not a sentimental spot with old-fashioned 
flowers running riot; no ‘‘sweet confusion;’’ none of the 
picturesque beauty of the English St. Catharine’s Court. 
JuSt a smallish retired spot, not costly, yet very sure of 
its place among gardens and proud of its ancient lineage, 
for it was created when the reSt of weStern Europe was 


§till semi-barbarous. 


BENCH EXECUTED IN POLYCHROME TILE 


BENCH EXECUTED IN POLYCHROME TILE 


BENCH EXECUTED IN POLYCHROME TILE 


ATIIATS ‘VSINI VIUVW AG ANOUVd AHL WOU STIVLAG OOONLS GNV ATLL 


+ 
oy + 
‘ 
ot 
* oc... -i ~ 
£32 
= Z 


= “edt ke 


+ 


ete TL 
‘CORDOVA, SEVILLE, AND GRANADA 


FORMER PALACE OF THE ALTAMIRAS, SEVILLE 
An open corridor treated in stucco, coloured tiles, and green woodwork 


“> oe 


J 
4 
i 
t 
“! 
t 
i 


CHAPTER III 
PATIOS OF CORDOVA, SEVILLE, AND GRANADA 


LL northerners agree with Théophile Gautier 
that “the Andalusian patio is a charming insti- 
tution.” Indoor garden, with growing plants 

and vines in its open centre; outdoor parlour, with 
chairs and tables and varguefio cabinets and pictures 
under its roofed arcades. In both humble and pretentious 
houses the patio was the nucleus of the plan; it answered 
to climatic conditions, also to the Moorish tradition of 
sequestered family life. Andalusia underwent a change 
of régime from Mohammedan to Christian; but the 
climate was not affected thereby, nor was this belief in 
seclusion, and so the Moorish plan was retained. Accept- 
ing further the Arab idea of a plain exterior and a rich 
interior, it was the patio rather than the facade of the 
house that the Spaniard embellished. 

The two Stories of the patio are connected by an en- 
closed Stair running up between walls and opening 
directly off the patio without hall or vestibule. In the 
sixteenth century the Renaissance type with open Stair- 
well made its appearance in Spanish domestic architecture 
but was coldly received. Builders, even of palaces, went 
on with the inclosed Stair—its treads of plain tiles, risers 
of polychrome, and protective nosing formed of a heavy 
billet of oak, Square in section. Stucco and tile wainscot 
made the walls; tiles, the well and pavement, save per- 


haps for small corner flower-beds; the surrounding arcade 
95 


96 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


was generally ornamented in yeserta (carved adamantine 
Stucco), and its ceiling was of pine beams painted in the 
Moorish manner. In the case of a small house with 
one patio, the well Stood in the corner most accessible 
to the kitchen. In larger patios the garden feature of a 
central fountain was often introduced. The well parapet 
is generally of tiles and the arch for the pulley is either 
of iron or Stone. Standing around, to complete the 
picture, are a few carrying jars of graceful form either 
in copper or glazed earthenware. 

Planting is limited to vines and trees which grow 
from earth pockets at the base of the arcade piers, and 
which are trained to form a leafy ceiling over the whole 
court; but though there are no flower-beds to speak of, 
potted plants are used without number, and of infinite 
variety are the designs and the colour-schemes in which 
they are set out. 

Cordova, Seville, and Granada, the three most im- 
portant Andalusian cities either in the past or the present, 
evolved each a diStin¢t sort of patio, though now, as will 
be explained presently, the Sevillian type is dominant. 
The Cordoveses, caring less about tiles than did the Seve/- 
lanos or the Granadinos, satisfied their colour sense by 
kalsomining their white patio walls with bands of ultra- 
marine, ochre, or green—rather sparingly. Sometimes 
the piers supporting the second Story were painted ; in 
the Viana patio they are bright yellow, and the glazed 
flower-pots match. Architecturally the Cordovan patio 


was less developed than the others—square Stucco or Stone 


PATIO OF THE FORMER ALTAMIRA PALACE, SEVILLE 
For the well-head and ‘wall-borders polychrome tiles are used 


PATIO OF THE FORMER ALTAMIRA PALACE, SEVILLE 
ringly used 


Polychrome tiles are most effective when spa 


PATIO STAIR AND WELL-HEAD, MONDRAGON PALACE, RONDA 
Varying levels characterize the Spanish groundfloor 


CASA CHAPIZ, GRANADA 
Typical sixteenth century Granadine patio showing Mudejar woodwork 


IOl 


CLOISTER OF THE CONVENTO DE SANTA CLARA, MOGUER 
W hitewashed walls, a brilliant polychrome well, and scant planting 


CASA CHAPIZ, GRANADA 
A secondary patio with gallery supported on corbels instead of columns 


102 


ree 


ORO IEE 


A TYPICAL SEVILLIAN PATIO TREATED IN TILES 


CORDOVA, SEVILLE, AND GRANADA 103 


piers upholding the arcade, or even, inStead of arches, a 
plain post-and-lintel conStruction. Pebble pavements in 
black and white abound. ‘There is much charm in these 
simple patios—bright patches of sun, exquisite bluish 
shadows, and one vivid colour. 

Besides the Viana patio, which is shown when the 
family are not in residence, that of the Museo Provincial 
is another typical example. This house, once a palace, 
has in addition a charming little second-Story loggia with 
a facing of azulejos. Another house is entered from this 
same patio. It hasa pretty informal garden at the back, 
full of fragrant flowers and adorned with fine fragments 
of Moorish carving dug up nearby—débris of what was 
the one centre of culture in WeStern Europe during the 
Dark Ages. 

The Sevillian patio is much more ‘dressy.’ Its 
owners kindly permit the passer-by to get a glimpse of it 
from the Street through the iron grille (resa or canci/la) 
of its veStibule. It is primarily an expression in coloured 
tiles and white ornamental plasterwork. Whether its 
Moorish prototype gave so much space to the polychrome 
tile is doubtful, it being quite likely that Christian Seville 
took to this manner of display only after it waxed rich 
through being the official port for trade with the New 
World ; at any rate, residents of Cordova claim that their 
simple patio is truer to the Moorish. In this matter of 
introducing colour it is rather anomalous that the Chris- 
tian Spanish should have wanted more of it in the form 


of tiles, and yet always left white the carved Stucco 


104 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


which the Moor painted so gaily—overpainted, we are 
apt to think after walking through the royal Moorish 
palace of the Alhambra. 

Aside from its exuberance of azulejos the Sevillian 
patio is further distinctive in being more architectural— 
marble columns to its arcade, an enclosed upper Story with 
pedimented windows looking down into the court, a 
designed fountain instead of, or supplementing, a well. 
Many of the painted wooden ceilings over the patio- 
galleries date from the sixteenth and _ seventeenth 
centuries and were the work of Moors. In this 
same epoch a great deal of marble was used for pave- 
ments, and handsome iron rejas were ordered for patio 
windows. Another feature of interest is the panelled 
door — Moorish carpentry —that gives access to the 
various rooms opening from the patio; also the manner 
of hanging it ——inStead of being hinged in a jamb it 
Stands forward of the opening and is pivoted top and 
bottom, the socket of the top embedded in a projecting 
corbel of either wood or Stone. Altogether the Sevillian 
patio is a very attractive outdoor living-room and is well 
worth the attention of American architects; not only 
those of Florida and the southweSt, where there is a 
Spanish tradition to live up to, but those in any part 
who are called on to build summer homes. ‘The 
application of coloured tiles is now past the experimental 
stage ; and the carved Stucco duro, or yeserza, could be 
admirably interpreted in terra cotta. 


It is hardly necessary to indicate the notable patios 


CORDOVA, SEVILLE, AND GRANADA 105 


of Seville, beautiful ones being visible or partly so in 
any Street outside of the shopping diStrict. Besides 
the well-known palaces of the Duques de Alva and 
Medinaceli (who seldom reside in them) there is the 
contemporaneous Pinelos house at No. 6, Abades, which 
is now a pension, and the Olea, in Guzman el Bueno. 
This laSt has been occupied for over a century by an 
English family, the Osbornes. Nearly all the houses on 
this Street possess patios quite as fine. For picturesque 
but dilapidated examples one must prowl about the old 
Jewry — Calle Levies and all around Santa Maria la 
Blanca, the former synagogue, where rich Jews built 
their palaces; while in another quarter, opposite Sav 
Yuan de la Palma, is the former Altamira palace, now 
rented out in Studios and its paved patio serving as a 
warehouse for antique dealers. 

The Granada patio is thoroughly Mudéjar, that is 
to say, of Moorish work but executed for ChriStians. 
More accurate would it be to say that it is thoroughly 
Moorish, for there is no evidence that it underwent any 
modification whatever on being taken over by the 
Spaniards. Structurally it is much lighter than the 
Sevillian. Wood, not Stone, was the material employed ; 
that is, while there were Still Moorish carpenters in 
Granada to fashion it, but after their breed had gone the 
Granadine patio took on more the aspect of the Sevillian. 
Of the two Stories, the upper was also a covered gallery 
and had a rail of wooden spindles, while the lower or 


supporting Story was rarely an arcade, but inStead, a post- 


106 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


and-lintel construction. Delicate marble colonnettes, 
hexagonal piers of brick Succoed, or carved wooden 
corbels, bore the weight. ‘The beamed ceilings cover- 
ing the walks were not painted in polychrome, but the 
beam ends, projecting to form the eaves, were carved 
in oriental fashion into a curious fish or animal 
head. Doors opening onto the patio were panelled and 
moulded, making that combination of rectangular panels 
of varying size that later became known as the “ sacristy 
door.”” The rails of the second-Story balustrade were 
square, set at an angle and fluted or reeded. — Pebble 
pavements are more used in Granada than elsewhere, 
and the vines that are trained to screen the open quad- 
rangle often grow from huge ¢majas, or oil jars such as 
Morgiana shut the forty thieves in. While the Granada 
patio remained true to the precedent of well-carved, 
oiled woodwork in combination with plain Stucco walls, 
it was the most distinctive of the Andalusian types, but 
in the seventeenth century, after the exodus of the 
Moors, columnar arcades took the place of wooden 
galleries, the open Renaissance Stair began to supplant 
the narrow enclosed Stair of tile and wood, and the patio 
lost its picturesque, sympathetic note. Easy to visit are 
the Casa Chapiz and a similar one in the Horna de Oro, 
just declared a Monumento Nacional. 

The patio, it will be seen, corresponds to the Italian 
cortile, but the treatment we have juSt described made 
of it a much more domestic-looking feature. It is the 


summer living-room of all Andalusian families; in 


107 


PATIO OF THE HOSPICIO, FORMERLY EL CONVENTO DE LA MERCED, CORDOVA 


108 


PATIO OF THE HOSPICIO, CORDOVA 


Typical Cordov 


d yellow stucco 


ite an 


Farogue treated in wh 


an 


AN 


oer ee. 


OLD CORDOVA 


PATIO WITH COLOURED TILE WINDOW TREATMENT 


, 


ga Ss 


h-O 


FIFTEENTH-CENTURY CLOISTER, CONVENTO DE SANTA CLARA, MOGUER 
The Andalusian cloister was the prototype for the early American missions 


Ee Be | 


FORMER MONASTERIO DE SAN JERONIMO, SIERRA DE CORDOVA 
Gothic cloisters now form part of the villa of the Marques del Merito 


biz 


THE ABANDONED CARTUJA AT JEREZ 
The once beautiful cloister now serves as a grazing ground 


CORDOVA, SEVILLE, AND GRANADA 113 


winter they move upStairs. During the seventeenth 
century, when the surcharged baroque Style came to Spain, 
palaces then erected or remodelled received formal patios 
that could never take on the lived-in quality of the 
typical patio. Baroque, however, found its patrons 
chiefly among the rich monasteries — especially those 
of the Jesuits—so that in the domestic field the 
number of richly treated patios is small. That of the 
Marques de Pefiaflor in Ecija is one of the fines 
examples in Andalusia. Among religious houses the 
‘‘ Compania” (Jesuits) in Cordova is specially sumptuous, 
while the former Convento de la Merced, now the 
Hospital, combines baroque with the traditional stucco 
and kalsomine trimming. 

In the cloisters of Andalusia as well as in the more 
ancient ones of northern Spain we find an interesting 
type of garden. ‘To the inmates of a religious asylum 
the cloister meant even more than the patio did to the 
members of the family, and to its planting and care 
they gave much attention. It was not only a fortus 
conclusus ; it was also the one passage leading to the 
various departments of the in&titution, a veritable 
thoroughfare in its small way. Into its covered walks 
opened the chapel, the chapter-house, the refectory, 
the library, etc. 

The first religious communities had in their strug- 
gling period but one cloister —a single-Storied arcade 
with a wooden lean-to roof, this often vividly painted in 


the Moorish tradition. The columns were set in pairs, 


114. SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


that is, two deep according to the thickness of the arch 
sofit. As the monastic institution waxed richer and 
more important, it added a second Story to its cloister, 
or even had two such enclosures. The walks were 
ceiled with masonry vaulting, and rich carved ornament 
was introduced into the capitals of the arcade. This 
display of art, especially of the human figure, was dis- 
approved of by Saint Bernard, and his order, the Cister- 
cian, returned to leaf and geometric patterns; but later, 
in Gothic days, all restrictions were ignored and the 
tracery and capitals of all cloiSters became very ornate. 
As to the open or garden part there were two es- 
sential items—the sombre cypress and the utilitarian 
well. ‘This last was usually the centre from which radi- 
ated the pattern, but the Cistercians covered, or rather 
surrounded, the well with a handsome well-house, and 
changed its position to one side, that opposite the re- 
fectory door. Here the monks Stopped for ablutions 
before going to meals. Such a lavatory, hexagonal, was 
de rigueur in the cloisters of the order, and particularly 
fine ones can be seen at Poblet and Santas Creus, near 
Barcelona. In late cloisters of the fifteenth and six- 
teenth centuries the central well was enclosed in a sort 
of tempietto, as at E] Paular and Guadalupe. In the 
latter, there is not only an elaborate brick well-house 
in the centre, but also a lavatory in one corner, though 
the order that built it was the Hieronymite, not the 
Cistercian. The cloister well-curb was generally of 


marble and surmounted by a fine wrought-iron head for 


CORDOVA, SEVILLE, AND GRANADA Pig 
the pulley. Walks were of gravel, Stone flags, pebbles 


combined with sheep knuckles, or of glazed tiles; curbs 
for garden-beds were of Stone. In the garden proper 
there were no benches, but on the inner or covered side 
of the arcade parapet ran a Stone bench. 

Cloister gardens having Stood abandoned during the 
half-century of diseStablishment of the religious orders, 
and only a few of them ever having been rehabilitated, 
their planting-scheme is no longer trim and easily ap- 
preciated. It was never elaborate. Four or six paths, 
box-lined, led from the centre, these crossed by sub- 
sidiary walks where the area was large, in which case 
the beds occupied less space than the intersections. 
Flowers were specially chosen for their perfume, and 
roses and lilacs still make the air heavy in many an 
abandoned cloister. 

It was the Andalusian cloister that served as model 
for the monks who built the missions in our-own south- 
west. With its white sun-beat walls instead of the 
sombre cold masonry of the north, and its polychrome 
tiled pavements instead of dark-grey flagstones, it im- 
parted a decidedly more cheerful note to monastic life. 
Of this type the cloister of the convent of Santa Clara 
in Moguer (a few miles from Palos, whence Columbus 
set sail on his immortal voyage) is the popular expres- 
sion. Enormously thick walls with cooling, shadow- 
inviting reveals—walls so often whitewashed that detail 
has become indiscernible; a well in the centre with curb 


of battered polychrome tiles and a decorative iron head; 


116 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


planting confined to a few pleached orange trees and 
vines; potted flowering plants guarded under the arcade 
away from the blazing sun—this white cloister seen 
through the iron grille by moonlight has a very rare 
and special beauty. | 
Among the monasteries bought and converted into 
residences since the DiseStablishment may be mentioned 
that of San Jerénimo in Cordova, another of the same 
order in Lupiana, near Guadalajara, the former belong- 
ing to the Marques del Mérito and the latter again for 
sale; the Benedictine of San Benet de Bages, home of 
the painter, Don Ramon Casas; and the Carthusian of 
Valdemosa, Majorca, where Georges Sand and her lover, 
Chopin, lodged shortly after the monks left, and which 
was recently acquired by the late illustrious Catalan biblio- 
phile and scholar, Don Isidor Bonsems. In all these 
cases the abandoned and overgrown cloister was re- 
planted and given the domestic touch of the family 
patio, and a more pleasing form of small intimate gar- 


den would be hard to find. 


ey 


PE 


ASTERIO DE NUESTRA SENORA DE GUADALU 


CLOISTER OF THE MON 


ummoned from Andalusia by the Abbot 


ere s 


SW 


Zan 


i 


art 


To build this 


A WELL-HEAD OF BRICK AND STUCCO, ECIJA 


IV 


tah 


CHAPTER IV 


THE GARDENS “DEL REY MORO,” RONDA, AND 
LAS ERMITAS, SIERRA DE CORDOVA 


DEL REY MORO 


N RONDA, a few hours by rail north of Gibraltar, 
is a chef-d'ceuvre in the way of a small hillside gar- 
den. The Casa del Rey Moro (House of the Moorish 

King, according to local legend) is now the property of 
the Duchess of Parcent, by whom the old white villa 
and its garden have been most admirably reclaimed. 
The city of Ronda, magnificently surrounded by 
lofty mountain ranges, is built on an isolated ridge 
which is rent asunder from base to top by the deep nar- 
row chasm of the Guadalevin River. Clinging to the 
south side is the primitive Moorish town; spreading out 
on the opposite, the more modern Christian quarter 
which sprang up after the city was captured from the 
Moors by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1485. It would be 
on the south side, then, that we should look for Moor- 
ish remains. The several interesting white villas along 
the gorge or fajo, once belonged to Mohammedan 
nobility ——even to royalty, as is popularly claimed; 
among their Spanish possessors are the Marques de 
Salvatierra, the Marques de Parada, and the Duquesa 
de Parcent. Only this last is the fortunate owner of a 
garden. To construct it the French expert Forrestier 
was called in. Because of the nature of the ground he 


had to become something of an inventor. 


122. SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


As seen by the drawing, the site presented great dif- 
ficulties. It is a precipice rather than a hillside. The 
modern landscape architect could not be satisfied with 
merely quarrying for a foothold, but wrested from the 
rock sufficient terrain to accommodate a neat scheme, a 
small garden so ingeniously arranged that one gets an 
impression of actual amplitude, In the uppermost part he 
had to do much filling-in; in the cliffside, much tun- 
nelling, stepping, and terracing to add beauty and interest. 
Here he found a Stair cut in the rock down to the river- 
bed and left it as it had been ever since the problem of 
securing water was thus solved by the Rey Moro’s archi- 
tect. As one looks down from the garden proper, the vari- 
ous little footholds, walled-in and planted or paved with 
tiles, make agreeable oases in the rocky side of the gorge. 

The garden-plot measures some fifty by one hun- 
dred and seventy-five feet, the house being at the highest 
point and to the east. This area would be insignificant 
elsewhere, but here, as said, is made to look spacious. 
Conforming to the declivity westward, three levels were 
created. That adjacent to the house is treated in the 
Strictly Andalusian manner—nearly all tiled; the inter- 
mediary, as the garden proper, with considerable plant- 
ing; the loweSt, while made to conform Strictly to the 
topography, is composed to serve as the culmination of 
the composition. From the fountain of the uppermost 
area, a typical little four-inch open conduit, tile-lined, 
passes down the various levels and terminates in a pool. 


Commanding as it does not only the reSt of the gar- 


DEL REY MORO 123 


den but also the white town backed by a sweeping 
panorama of exceptional grandeur, this uppermost level 
had to be provided with seats. These are of tile, their 
brilliant yellow and blue making a splendid colour note 
against the dense mass of shrubbery; thus set, the rigid 
contour of the free-Standing tile bench with back is 
made more agreeable. On the north side, overlooking 
the chasm and the town, is a pergola of one bay, while 
along the south or Street wall is a continuous pergola 
dropping down the three levels and making a sheltered 
walk along the whole length of the garden; this arbor 
is supported on Stone columns with coarsely carved 
capitals. Planting in the higheSt part is restricted to a 
few well-grouped plots cleanly defined by clipped box; 
the rest is paved with unglazed flat bricks in basket- 
weave with small coloured insets. ‘The basin of the 
fountain, the canal, and the coping of the foliage beds, 
are all in polychrome; the font itself is of marble. 

Seven feet below and reached by a balance Stair 
with a grotto between is the flower-garden—two sizable 
beds edged with box trimmed at intervals into pyramids. 
Rose-bushes and diminutive shrubs make up the plant- 
ing. ‘The walks are of gravel. ‘This being a circulating 
space, there are no seats. 

The lowe&t level, screened at the back by cypresses, 
is more secluded. It, too, is reached by a balance Stair, 
but here circular and embracing a tile-lined pool. The 
paths that radiate from here form with their various 


termini the reSt of the scheme. The well-head placed 


124 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


on the main axis came from a Renaissance palace. Well, 
exedras, cypresses—all are reminiscent of Italy, yet adjuSt 
themselves admirably to the topical treatment of the 
upper parts of the scheme. 

Fully to appreciate this charming little garden one 
muS&t keep the designer’s problem in mind; his available 
area was very reduced; one side was bounded by a gorge, 
the other three by a congeSted semi-Moorish town; 
breathing-space, privacy, and an impression of per- 
spective and distance had to be secured, hence the 
extreme motivation. More highly developed in plan 
than the average Andalusian garden, it instantly an- 
nounces that the designer could not wholly reconcile 
himself to traditional Andalusian simplicity. His French 
sense of design had to assert itself. Yet aside from the 
pergola and exedra, in favour of which tradition may 
well be ignored at times, all the embellishment is 
oriental—solid parapets inStead of the balustrade, low 
pools inStead of the raised fountain, brick and glazed 
tile inStead of marble, areas of tiled pavement inStead of 
grass, and vegetation dwarfed and retrained instead of 
natural. The architect has, one may say, carried the 
Andalusian tradition forward into the twentieth century, 
modernizing it for the needs of a twentieth-century cos- 
mopolitan family. 

LAS ERMITAS, SIERRA DE CORDOVA 

We have mentioned Cordova, the city, as a natural 

region to look for flat gardens; but to the weSt of the 


town, mounting into the Sierra de Cordova where once 


125 


a — a 


GARDEN OF THE CASA DEL REY MORO 
The upper terrace commanding a view over the gorge to the town of Ronda 


120 


THE MIDDLE GARDEN TERRACE, CASA DEL REY MORO 
White retaining walls and amphorae of brilliant colors 


ae 
GRAAR MAME BY 


x 
Ws 


eter 
perheeies 
PEDGREE Ste 


CASA DEL REY MORO 


GARDEN PLAN 


128 


THE LOWEST TERRACE, CASA DEL REY MORO 
The formal terrace with free planting and gravel walks 


» CASA DEL REY MORO 


DETAIL OF THE POOL, 


les 


ite ti 


lazed wh 


in g 


xecuted 


E 


130 


EE GARDEN LEVELS TOWARDS THE VILLA, CASA DEL REY MORO 


LOOKING UP THE THR 


PATIO OPENING 


ON TO THE 


GARDEN, 


Ser ee ee 
the os 
Pee ee 


CASA DEL REY MORO 


Atl 


132 


ENTRANCE TO THE MONASTERY CALLED LAS ERMITAS (HERMITAGE) 
In the Sierra de Cordova 


LAS ERMITAS et 


stood fine Moorish villas and gardens, are a few hillside 


examples of interest. One of these, E/ Conwento Ermi- 


taho, we illustrate. It occupies a site favoured by hermits 
ever since the remote introduction of ChriStianity into 
Spain. This high-lying convent (in Spanish, convent 
and monastery are synonymous) is inhabited by a dozen 
old monks, each living separately in his little white 
casita and keeping his hillside patch of green in order. 
It is the layout of these individual quarters that is spe- 
cially attractive—all white Stucco against which the 
simple planting is very effective. The well-cared-for 
slopes are covered with luxuriant olive trees, and in the 
gardens proper are tall cypresses and Stone pines, which 
make the various small hermitages appear all the more 
diminutive and homelike. 

On the return to Cordova one may visit the Quinta 
de Arrizafa, supposed once to have been an estate of 
Abderrhaman, first of the great caliphs. Mediocre as to 
garden craft, it is interesting for its extraordinary prodi- 
gality of flowers; there is also a famous aviary of 


pheasants and fighting cocks. 


Woe 


ENTRANCE TO THE CHAPEL FORECOURT, LAS ERMITAS 
Through an arch of cypresses 


LAS ERMITAS. THE MONASTERY GROUP 
Chapel and separate casitas, a study in green and white 


AGE 


we 


A HILLSIDE OF ORANGE AND OLIVE TREES TERRACED WITH WHITE.WALLS 


LAS ERMITAS. 


LAS ERMITAS, WHERE EACH HERMIT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS OWN GARDEN PLOT 


LAS ERMITAS. 


EACH STRUCTURE AND GARDEN IS SURROUNDED BY A HIGH 


ee 


WHITE 


WALL 


% 
. 
* 


E GENERALIFE, GRANADA 


a 


VIEW FROM THE LOFTY MIRADOR SHOWING GRANADA THE PRESENT DAY APPROACH TO THE GENERALIFE 
AND THE ALHAMBRA IN THE DISTANCE GARDENS 


CHAPTER V 
THE GENERALIFE, GRANADA 


RANADA isa mountain city three thousand feet 
above sea level. Sentimental tourists who go 
to it Steeped in the literature of the Romantic 

School are generally disappointed. It is difficult for 
them to picture the empty, over-restored royal courts 
peopled with languishing Moorish maidens, or to see 
the ragged, importuning gypsy women as haughty 
beauties with slumbering fire in their eyes ; consequently 
they feel that Granada has somehow not come up to 
their expectations. 

As a matter of fact few cities in the world can 
compare with it for sheer beauty of situation. Of that at 
least the change of owners could not deprive it. Little 
is left of the Moors’ Capital except the 4/hambra on the - 
acropolis and the Genera/ife on the opposite hill. Of 
the many sumptuous palaces, villas, and gardens of the 
Moorish aristocracy that occupied the Albaicin and other 
surrounding hills, not a trace is left; but when the 
conquering Spaniards entered in the first days of the 
year 1492 they must have beheld a display of hanging 
gardens such as met the unaccustomed eye of the rugged 
warrior from Macedon when he entered Babylon. To- 
day we are reduced to the two examples mentioned above. 

The Generalife, supposed to have been the sum- 
mer residence (Casa de campo) of the Granada kings, was 


probably built in the late fourteenth century. It owes 
143 


144. SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


its preservation to its having been given, along with a 
Christian beauty, as a suitable reward to an aristocratic 
Moor who turned ChriStian. Legend further States 
that it never passed from their descendants. Until 
recently the Generalife, also the intereSting sixteenth- 
century palace known as the Casa de los Tiros down in 
the city, was held by the Marqueses de Campotejar, who, 
through remote intermarriage with a Genoese family, 
changed their nationality and spent but little time in 
their Spanish ancestral residences. Between them and 
the Spanish crown a suit for possession of these two 
Granada properties was pending for over a century, to 
be settled only last year in favour of Spain. The town 
house is to become a museum, and the Generalife is to 
be restored as a public garden. If only the work 
receives the wise supervision of the Comzsario Regio who 
is urging the scheme on the government (the Marques 
de Vega Inclan), we may hope to see the feeble cast-iron 
fountains, railings, and other intrusions of the nineteenth 
century replaced by appropriate reproductions of Moorish 
originals. Beyond this and the clipping back of the 
overgrown foliage which now disguises much of the 
layout but little is to be done, unless it be to reopen the 
original entrance to the grounds. What the seven- 
teenth century left in the gardens is picturesque and not 
incongruous. 

We have here a fine example of an old hillside garden, 
the more valuable because it can be Studied in relation 


to the villa which formed part of the scheme. All the 


THE GENERALIFE, GRANADA 145 


architectural units being practically intaét, one sees what 
an intimate accessory the garden was, how it was almost 
drawn into the house, so to speak. The garden scheme 
is one of sequestered courts and open terraces. The 
villa is admirably set so as to have the advantage of every 
view, inwards or without. View it was that determined 
the placing of the long southern arcade looking to the 
main patio on one side and the distant Alhambra Palace 
on the other; also of the shorter arcade on the west 
overlooking the valley of the Darro River, and of the 
lofty loggias of the villa itself commanding the city. 

So much for the scheme as considered from within; 
seen from a distance the placing is equally successful. 
Instead of crowning the hill, E/ Cerro de/ Sol, in the 
obvious manner, the architect set the villa well down 
the southern slope, thereby escaping north winds and 
giving it an air of basking comfortably in a well-culti- 
vated expanse. The actual garden is seen to be con- 
centrated within a walled enclosure for which the 
surrounding /uerta makes a very decorative frame—the 
bright Indian-red earth kept plowed and friable, and 
dotted with myriad green tufts of orange and olive trees. 
When the former are heavy with fruit the hillside is 
like a rich woven fabric sparkling with threads of gold. 

As the terracing walls of the Awerta are untreated 
they do not conflict with those of the villa and garden; 
the eye goes immediately to the centre of the composi- 
tion. Yet this focus modestly announces itself by 


nothing more than its shining white walls; there is no 


146 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


accentuated treatment leading up to it; no escalier and 
ramp, no balustraded terraces such as make up the im- 
pressive partie of the Italian villa. Rather in the medi- 
eval manner it leaves one to imagine where the approach 
is made. Asa matter of fact, the original entrance was 
on the southwest or Alhambra side; but this was long 
ago abandoned in favour of the Stately alley of cypresses 
that leads from the lodge towards, but not entirely to, 
the present highroad. 

Of the porticoed villa which has Stood dismantled 
for years there is not much to say; it is picturesque, not 
architectural. The moS&t interesting feature about it is 
the disposition—miaster’s quarters in one unit and this 
connected with the gate-lodge by two long shallow 
wings, one for service, the other a promenade. Thus 
the main patio is completely surrounded. ‘The interior 
was never sumptuous, nothing more than cool white 
open loggias and rooms ornamented by carved yeseria or 
plasterwork which, if ever it was in polychrome, is now 
merely a deep ivory tone; nor are there any polychrome 
tiles. Marble was used for the columns of the delicate 
two-light (ajzmez) windows and for the loggia arcades. 
On the walls are a few seventeenth-century imaginary 
portraits of its early Christian possessors, meaning the 
Moor aristocrat who married the Spanish dame d’honneur. 

The principal garden is some hundred and fifty feet 
long, enclosed as described by buildings of several Stories 
at each end (villa and gate-lodge respectively), and low 


ones along each side. That along the south is in the 


147 


whi 
“tf 


‘a, 


BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE GENERALIFE, GRANADA 


149 


ge 
= 


EE 


THE GENERALIFE SEEN FROM THE ALHAMBRA 


ee ern penintnciina 


LOOKING INTO THE ENTRANCE PATIO OF THE GENERALIFE FROM THE GATE-LODGE 


A: 


ANLZ] 
(aN | 


yy 
NS SX 


oe 


Mf 


ee 


UU) 
wa. cups 


f cesaelietl 


| SLES) al 


— Die 
Ml) ee 


eT 


ij ine 


0nnnonnany 


PLAN OF THE GENERALIFE, GRANADA 


PRESSES 


THE GENERALIFE GARDENS, PATIO OF THE CY 


Also called the water garden 


THE GENERALIFE GARDENS. FOUNTAIN IN THE PATIO OF THE CYPRESSES 


LOGGIA IN WHITE STUCCO AND GREEN WOODWORK 
Connecting the villa with the Cypress Patio 


THE GENERALIFE GARDENS. 


4 
» 
* 


“en 
22 


& 
Mog 
ore! 


# 


t 


THE PEBBLE WALK DESCENDING FROM THE HIGHEST TERRACE 


THE GENERALIFE GARDENS. 


Be Gd , 
aerate | 
os AR, 
£@ WeHKE,, 
Gentine wan 


PRESS PATIO 


3TAIR LEADING UP FROM THE CY 


ENERALIFE GARDENS. 


x 


THE ¢ 


bbles 


Landings laid in black and white river pe 


mo 


DETAIL OF STAIR 


press Patio to the terrace above 


NERALIFE GARDENS. 


THE GE 


y 


from the C 


Leading 


e 
wre 


ee 


oe 


% 


THE GENERALIFE GARDENS. BRICK STAIR ASCENDING TO THE MIRADOR 


THE GENERALIFE, GRANADA 159 


form of an arcade interrupted midway by a diminutive 
mosque, now of course a chapel; corresponding on the 
north is a low service-wing. This last disguises an 
abrupt rise in the ground, its roof being just above the 
level of the upper garden. To run service-wings or 
other utilitarian Structures along a terrace inStead of 
building a lofty retaining wall was a practical solution. 
The idea is worth dwelling upon, though it is likely 
that a modern tenant of the villa (other than Spanish) 
would be more fastidious than the Moor about having 
his servants circulating freely through the main patio. 
The face of the service-wing is now all hidden, except 
for its green wooden doors, by neglected and unpruned 
growth of box and cypress. 

Of the patio itself the chief motif is the canal that 
bisects it from end to end; not the typical narrow runlet 
of coloured tiles that one would find in Seville, but a 
serious three-foot marble @//ée d’eau through which a 
considerable volume of water is conStantly flowing. The 
supply comes from several lively little mountain streams 
which were diverted from their course. Paths are of 
gravel; planting, now rather unkempt, is of low flowering 
herbs, the beds bordered by an ancient box hedge. 
In the way of accessories there is nothing but a shallow 
marble fazza at each end of the central canal and at 
each side the little spouts which send up thin jets of 
water to make a rainbow arch over its entire length. 

Before entering the upper garden, which can be 


reached only through the villa, one should go down- 


160 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


Stairs and out into the attractive little formal garden at 
the rear with its hedges of box and arcaded wall opened 
to extend the garden view to the city. We shall see this 
same sort of wall very effectively borrowed in the new 
garden presently to be described, of Don José Acosta. 

The upper court, named for the veteran cypresses 
which antedate the Christian conquest, is specially beauti- 
ful. From the villa it is reached by a few Steps up into 
the portico which, set against a blank wall, forms its 
weStern boundary. The Patio de /os Cipreses measures 
approximately twenty-five by eighty feet. It is in reality 
a water garden, but a Moorish water garden did not mean 
one broad sheet with aquatic plants and hydraulic curi- 
osities, but merely an ample canal; embracing in this 
case three diminutive islands, its depth augmented by the 
reflection of the giant cypresses against the north wall. 
These, along with the hedges of myrtle and a few flower- 
ing shrubs on the islands, comprise the planting. A 
Renaissance marble fountain, jets of water edging the 
canals, coloured flower-pots, and the pebbled walks in 
black and white, compose the applied decoration. All 
here is green and green reflections; a spot where one 
can feel cool on even the hotteSt summer day. 

The portico at the end, mentioned as giving access 
to the water garden, is balanced at the east by a Stucco 
wall with an arched gateway. ‘The wooden gate, like 
the doors of the portico, is painted green and opens upon 
the Steps that rise to the next level. The landings are 


treated in elaborate pebble mosaics, and the stepped para- 


THE GENERALIFE. GRANADA 161 


pets at the sides hold potted fowers. Not until one has 
mounted to this third level is he free of the house and in 
the open garden ; for the house a¢ts as a connecting link 
between the two more intimate portions just described. 

The third and succeeding levels are treated as open 
parterres, edged with box and myrtle and filled with 
chrysanthemums, roses, and lilies; the walls for the most 
part are concealed behind clipped and wired cypresses. 
In the centre of the parterre just entered, there used to 
stand a cypress arbour of eight trees domed in at the top, 
but it has been removed. Two distinct flights of steps 
lead up from the fourth level: that to the east is of 
brick and covered with a grape-arbour, that to the west 
is an amusing feature with circular landings and fountains 
at the various levels and with a grooved parapet lined 
with shallow roof tiles down which the water runs 
merrily. This whole mot:f is buried in a mass of thick 
foliage through which the sun’s rays never penetrate and 
in which the Stillness is only broken by the constant 
ripple of the water. A picturesque whitewashed mirador 
affording splendid views Stands in the uppermost level, 
and the wall in front is surmounted by a row of busts in 
enamelled earthenware, probably of the seventeenth 
century and interesting as such. 

As if to prove that tiles in colour were more Spanish 
than Moorish, this most Moorish of. Andalusian gardens 
is at present devoid of them. It is quite probable how- 
ever that the several mediocre fountains seen were built 


to replace ruinous ones of azulejos. Even were these 


162 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 
reStored one could Still say that a charming garden had 


been created practically without the aid of tiled acces- 
sories ; nor for that matter of any of the accessories that 
formed the usual Stock-in-trade of the European garden- 
builder. In their place are simple Stuccoed walls, coloured 


Hower-pots, pebbled pavements, and sparkling water. 


THE GENERALIFE. WINDOW WITH WOODEN GRILLE, OR REJA, 
IN THE GARDEN WALL 


LHAMBRA, GRANADA 
GARDEN, GRANADA 


. 
s 
.* 
# * 
Sy MENTS | 


CHAPTER VI 


THE ALHAMBRA, GRANADA 
THE ACOSTA GARDEN, GRANADA 
THE ALHAMBRA 

HE Alhambra having been both fortress and 

palace, its gardens did not pass beyond the 

ramparts, but took the form of a series of patios 
within the palace precincts. It is, therefore, a hilltop, 
not a hillside, example—the acropolis levelled, and the 
sides of the mountain left wild and unterraced. The 
plan shows the same succession of rectangular units, 
some open to the sky, others ceiled, that made up the 
Moorish flat garden and palace. It is necessarily incom- 
plete, for what is seen to-day is only a fraé¢tion of the 
original scheme. 

Most of the vast royal residence that fell to the 
Catholic Sovereigns dated from the reigns of Yusuf I 
and Mohammed V—the fourteenth century. Ferdinand 
and Isabella gave orders for its restoration and upkeep; 
also they made a few alterations. Their grandson, 
Charles V, while he rebuked the canons of Cérdova for 
tearing out the centre of the great mosque in order to 
install the Renaissance high altar and choir, did not 
hesitate to demolish a large part of the Alhambra 
group, structures and gardens, to make room for his 
never-to-be-completed Renaissance palace. His minor 
demolitions are less regrettable since he replaced them 


by something more harmonious than the Italian palace 
165 


166 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


—we refer to the series of rooms and patios which were 
prepared for his residence pending the new construction. 
With these intrusions the Alhambra gardens as they 
Stand to-day are a combination of Moorish, early Span- 
ish interpretation of Moorish, and Spanish Renaissance 
—this last in the YFardin de los Adarves (flat wall tops) 
which Charles V laid out down on the ramparts, to the 
left of the modern entrance. Mo&t of their czmguecento 
motifs and sculpture have disappeared, but the box hedges 
and the rampart walls covered with vines seem to do 
quite well without them. 

Dominating the plan is the long Moorish patio, one 
hundred and twenty feet by seventy-fve—E/ Patio de 
los Arrayanes (myrtle) or, to give it its Arab name, de 
la Alberca (pool). First to be entered, it gives the 
impression of a golden glow everywhere, warm yellow 
arcaded walls, their reflection in the pool heightened by 
the myriads of goldfishes that dart about. Of planting, 
nothing more than the myrtle hedge; of embellishment, 
nothing but the marble pavement and the low basin at 
each end of the pool; this may sound pauvre, but it must 
be borne in mind that such walls would make, in them- 
selves, any enclosure beautiful. Specially graceful are 
the arcades at each end, supported on slender marble 
colonnettes with delicate capitals, that to the south sur- 
mounted by a beautiful little triforium gallery. 

The only other large patio left is that of the Leones 
on opposite axis to that just described. It was laid out 


in 1377, and measures ninety-two feet by fifty-two. Its 


KONYA ‘a}qoe pauresj-ueljeiy aqy Aq pousisaq 


A S€ATYVHO dO NIVINONOd ‘VOVNVUS ‘VGCANVTIV YO WAUVd VUAWVHTV AHL 


THE ALHAMBRA PALACE AND GARDENS. FOUNTAIN IN THE PATIO DE DARAXA 
Faceted Moorish tazza and Renaissance lower basin 


THE ALHAMBRA. FOUNTAIN IN THE COURT OR PATIO LOS LEONES 


THE ALHAMBRA. UPPER GALLERY 
Commanding a little garden on one side and the city on the other 


f 
| 
: 


4 
4 pdr ncmaainacter Pree Dain Drrnasnnuan hones 


170 


THE ALHAMBRA. LOWER ENTRANCE TO THE PATIO DE LA REJA, (OR OF JOAN THE MAD) 
Typical wooden spindle doors 


171 


‘y ie, 


oe 


PAVEMENT OF THE PATIO DE LA REJA SEEN FROM AN UPPER GALLERY 


THE ALHAMBRA 


4 


” 


JA INTO THE PATIO DE DARAXA 


LA RE 


~ 


ALHAMBRA, LOOKING FROM THE PATIO DE 


THE 


THE ALHAMBRA. UPPER AND LOWER GALLERIES ALONG THE NORTH SIDE OF THE PATIO DE LA REJA 


174 


S29¥119} PI][VM JO soles W 
VAVNVUD ‘SHUILLUVAN SOT AAG OdWYD 


THE ALHAMBRA Lr 


planting, said to have been all of dwarf orange-trees, has 
disappeared—nothing but gravel takes its place. As far 
as the garden part is concerned only the famous—the 
over-famous—fountain remains, along with eight shallow 
basins at the ends, connected by little canals with the 
central overhow. ‘The Fountain of Lions, Standing out 
as it now does without the kindly proximity of trees or 
shrubs, does not seem to merit the praise generally be- 
stowed upon it. The noble beast is conventionalized 
even beyond heraldic recognition, and the spout pro- 
truding from his mouth hardly adds dignity. More 
admirable is the basin the lions support, mellowed into 
most beautiful colour. All four sides of this patio are 
arcaded, making a splendid display of slender marble 
columns and capitals. At each end 1s a pavilion with a 
wooden dome of typical Moorish carpentry. 

The two patios just described are the moSt genuinely 
oriental of the Alhambra; beautiful though they are in 
their way, it is rather the smaller Christian (by way of 
apposition) enclosures that offer the modern garden- 
builder greater inspiration. Among these, either re- 
modelled or created by the de&truction of Moorish 
portions, are the Patio de Daraxa and the Patio de Ja 
Reja, which deserve special attention. In the former, 
dating from the time of Charles V, is a beautiful Stone 
fountain, consisting of an upper Moorish basin brought 
from the Mexuar Patio and mounted on a Renaissance 
base. Here we see the ancient practice of scoring and 


faceting the edges and under side of the upper basin so 


176 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


that the thousand little high lights thus created may be 
reflected and magnified in the pool below. Planting is 
entirely green—clipped box and cypress trees. Washing- 
ton Irving, who had lodgings in the abandoned Alham- 
bra, was specially fond of this spot. ‘Here,’ he wrote, 
“the twittering martlet, the only bird sacred and unmo- 
leSted in Spain because it is believed to have plucked the 
thorns from Our Saviour’s crown as He hung on the cross, 
builds his nest and breaks the silence of these sequestered 
courts which were made for oriental enjoyment.” 

The other patio buried in the heart of the building 
is that of the Reja, on the north side; very diminutive, 
built in 1654. Its name refers to a window grille 
through which the imprisoned Jane the Mad (‘fuana Ja 
Loca) is said to have looked out during her enforced 
residence in the Alhambra. The pavement of patterned 
Stone is specially beautiful. In the corners are circles 
of earth from which rise lofty cypresses; additional 
green is supplied by potted bamboo plants. Off to one 
side and thus placed in order to be visible from the ad- 
jacent patios, is the marble fountain. Further interest 
is supplied by the wooden spindled gates which connect 
with the ground-floor chambers of the palace. ‘These 
gates are a very Spanish feature—an eccnomical inter- 
pretation of forged iron and found in gardens and in the 
poorer churches. Enclosing the north side of this little 
patio and at second-Story level is an open gallery com- 
manding a sweeping view over the Albaicin Hill. For its 


construction, Moorish columns and capitals were brought 


THE GARDEN OF DON JOSE ACOSTA 177 


from demolished courts. Spaniards never missed an op- 
portunity for introducing this sort of promenade gallery, 
attractive in itself and open to both the garden and the 
distant landscape. 

Of the Alhambra palace we say nothing. As a 
Moorish monument in a European country it is interest- 
ing and even beautiful, but the majority of Europeans 
(we use the word in reference to race as opposed to 
Asiatics) feel no sympathy with the much cusped arches, 
the never-ending wainscots of polychrome tile all in the 
prescribed Mohammedan patterns of interlacings and 
arabesques, and the highly coloured plasterwork of the 
walls repeating these same interminable geometric de- 
signs. Somehow it does not appeal to our more sober 
northern taste. Its ready adaptability to café and dance- 
hall decoration puts us who are essentially domestic by 
instinct out of sorts with it. It represents the artiStic 
decadence of the race that built it. Had the ChriStian 
régime in Cérdova and Seville, which were won two 
and a half centuries before Granada, left us a single un- 
tampered-with relic of the earlier Moorish period when 
azulejos were used with restraint and yeseria was proba- 
bly not painted at all, we might feel more in harmony 
with it. 

THE GARDEN OF DON JOSE ACOSTA 

We are fortunate in being able to illustrate one new 
Granada garden, not only for its beauty but also because 
it shows how happily the old Andalusian type may be 


combined with certain features of European gardens in 


178 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


general. It is the creation of the painter, Don José 
Rodriguez Acosta. Admiration of antique sculpture has 
led Sefior Acosta to Study how it could best be intro- 
duced into the typical local setting. He chose his site 
on the precipitous southern slope of the Monte Mauror, 
close to the Alhambra. This was the ancient Campo de 
los Martires, legend making it the scene of early 
Christian persecutions, and later, of the dungeons where 
were thrown at night the Christian captives who worked 
on the Alhambra. 

Structurally the garden is Andalusian. Great stepped 
retaining walls follow down the hillside, garden courts 
are enclosed by arcaded walls similar to those already 
described in the Generalife, and parts of the garden lie 
in the embrace of the house itself, as at the Alhambra; 
but all this is much more achite¢tural than in the proto- 
types, displaying, indeed, an extraordinary appreciation 
of ancient Roman building principles. Andalusian tradi- 
tion is departed from by the introduction of garden 
sculpture, a columnar exedra, and a general use of the 
orders. There are no polychrome tiles, and in truth 
their introduction would seem trivial in the monumental 
scale of things. The planting is wholly green, cypress 
and box. Water is not running and rippling in the 
more Spanish fashion, but lies in quiet pools, and the only 
colour these reflect besides white and green is the deep blue 
of the southern sky. As this garden is Still unfinished it is 
somewhat unfair to the owner to illuStrate it; at the same 


time it is too promising and too inspiring to be omitted. 


THE GARDEN OF DON JOSE ACOSTA 179 


Further along this same southern slope is a villa or 
Carmen with a fine terraced garden, known as the 
Carmen de los Martires. It is a mid-Victorian inter pre- 
tation of Andalusian, most interesting for its orange 
terraces and the use of potted plants along the parapets. 
In recent years it has become quite overgrown and form- 


less, but many beautiful little spots can Still be found. 


181 


THE MASSIVE WALL ENCLOSING THE GARDE 


OF DON JOSE ACOSTA ON THE SLOPES OF MONTE MAUROR, 
GRANADA 
View from the road 


182 


THE ARCADED WALL OF THE ACOSTA GARDEN SEEN FROM THE 


ROAD 


THE ACOSTA GARDEN DEPARTS FROM THE ANDALUSIAN TRADITION BY INTRODUCING CLASSIC ACCESSORIES 


THE ACOSTA GARDEN. TEMPLE AND ARCHWAY OVERLOOKING GRANADA 


oles 


ERNE 


OND 


ERRA NEVADA BEY 


ED WALL AND THE SI 


THE STEPP 


THE ACOSTA GARDEN. 


186 


eas: 


sate 


Eee, 


AIR. 2m: 


POOL IN THE ACOSTA GARDEN 


iness 


h the heay 


iminis 


The lofty wall is perforated by arches to d 


= 
GBP we 
ry 


= how 
—~\ 
5 a. 
— 


= 


eA 
Ml a) san “se He 


em eo fest 
™ —< " t :) 
J ; Hae 


. 
‘ ‘ 
> iw 


; Snare | 
. - a & CZ 


&; Z 
| # 


MH 4 Nt 


Q 


— 


p 


THE ACOSTA GARDEN, A STUDY IN RETAINING WALLS 


pear ea sveLL ; 


HE ALCAZAR GARDENS, SEVILLE 


heal 
hee 
ae, : ys 
a 1 & i K 


ENTRANCE TO THE ALCAZAR GARDENS WITH AN OVER- 
PORTAL IN BLUE AND YELLOW TERRA COTTA 


CHAPLER: VII 
THE ALCAZAR GARDENS, SEVILLE 
EVILLE offers, in the park of its 4/cazar, the 


most complete early Spanish example of the level 

type. In addition the city contains the gardens 
of the Alba and Medinaceli palaces and the modern 
Parque de Maria Luisa ; while in the way of very small 
gardens and patios there are any number that will amply 
reward the searcher who is bold enough to bribe his 
way into them. 

From classic times the site of the Alcazar has been 
important in the history of Seville. After the Romans, 
the Moors built their citadel (Arab, a/-Kasr) here; this 
was towards the end of the twelfth century, Seville’s 
most prosperous Moorish period. Of this building 
nothing remains. Its precincts were vast, having ex- 
tended down to the Guadalquivir and included the 
ground now occupied by the Fabrica de Tabacos, the 
Palacio Santelmo, and the Torre def Oro. For the re- 
building of the destroyed Alcazar Peter the Cruel (1350 
-69) deserves the credit. As his architects and craftsmen 
were Moors and as the palace is proof that they were 
following their own oriental tradition in architecture, we 
may safely presume that the garden they made for him 
was also after their own manner. 

How much of their layout was preserved by Christian 


monarchs can never be more than a matter of conjecture. 
19I 


192 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


Charles V meddled with both palace and garden ; con- 
sidering that practically all the tiles seen in the latter 
date from the sixteenth century and onwards, one would 
not be far wrong in assuming that Peter the Cruel’s had 
less of them and was thus truer to precedent. Within 
the palace, however, and dating from his time are fine 
early examples—cuerda secas, cuencas, and even mosaics 
—which those who are interested in old tiles should not 
fail to examine. ‘The garden was again remodelled but 
only in part by Philip IV and Philip V. The latter is 
said to have added a fish-pool; if this means the main 
pool on the uppermost level it is likely that it was on 
the site of a former reservoir, for from this point the 
whole garden is, and apparently always was, irrigated. 
As to scheme, it is chiefly absent. The layout is 
made up of the usual series of walled enclosures falling 
haphazardly in line. Even with so much ground at 
their command the gardeners never thought of creating 
long vistas nor planting alleys of trees. The main point 
to observe in the plan is that the enclosures nearest the 
palace are smallest, averaging seventy-five by a hundred 
feet, and admitting of more intimate treatment; while 
in the larger ones the set-out plot units remain much the 
same, but are repeated in order to fill a given area and 
thus keep all in the same scale. Where the plan shows, 
as it does on its outer edge, greater motivation, even the 
layman's eye will instantly detect the eighteenth century. 
Of the vapidity of those decadent << Philippine days” 


nothing could speak more eloquently than the ambitious 


THE ALCAZAR GARDENS, SEVILLE 193 


but fortunately unfinished project in the northwest corner 
beyond the courts of Maria Padilla. 

The Alcazar grounds are entered at the uppermost 
level, which brings one immediately to the main irriga- 
tion pool, backed up by the rococo wall or rather, 
rococo facing to Peter the Cruel’s fortified wall. From 
this eminence one descends at once to the main level. 
The first parterre parallel to the palace is known as the 
fardines de Maria Padilla. Opening on this are the 
several vaulted grottos where, if legend be true, this mis- 
tress of Peter the Cruel used to bathe. The paths of 
contrary axes lead to the so-called baths of Jane the Mad 
and the pavilion which her son Charles V built. The 
Padilla parterre and the plaisance of Charles V are, to 
our mind, the be&t of the Alcazar Gardens. 

These gardens, being fairly large, offer a special 
chance to appreciate the effectiveness of long Stretches 
of pleached white walls. ‘Those contiguous to the 
palace extend up to the second-Story terraces, and their 
tops are turned into promenades and provided with a 
continuous parapet seat. Thus the inmates might Step 
out and walk through the garden at second-Story level, 
so to speak. Where walls of different height abut, the 
two levels are connected by parapeted Steps. The top 
of the north or fortified and buttressed wall is likewise 
connected with the palace terrace by means of an arched 
passage over the entrance to the gardens; while the 
arcaded gallery built in the thickness of the wall can be 


reached either by a Stair from the garden or a passage 


194 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


from the palace. Facing south, as it does, this wall gal- 
lery is sheltered from cold winds in winter and hot sun 
in summer —a practical as well as a decorative feature. 
Although none of the garden walls have fine iron or 
wooden gates there are several recessed window openings, 
treated in tile, that are particularly beautiful. 

The only decorative accessory is the azulejo. Indeed, 
these gardens are a veritable museum of fine mellowed 
sixteenth-century azulejos; yet for all their prodigality 
there is a reStraint as compared with the new Sevillian 
work. This is particularly noticeable in the pavements, 
mostly in unglazed dark red without coloured insets. On 
the other hand fountains, basins, benches, stairs, and the 
Emperor’s pavilion, are all in polychrome. Best among 
the fountains are those at the intersections of paths—low, 
star-shaped, and treated in yellows, greens, and blues. 
These appear to have been taken as the model for every 
new fountain placed in Seville in the last ten years. 

The polychrome bench is here seen at its best because, 
being of considerable length, it has not the abruptness of 
the short park bench of three or four seats. In combi- 
nation with walls that measure from fifty to seventy feet 
long, or set against an equally long hedge, it almoést 
achieves monumentality. Near the pavilion so often 
referred to is a rond pont featured with a circular bench 
in four sections, which is particularly interesting for its 
colour. Unbacked, the bench is set against a high mass 
of box, with whose deep green the brilliant yellow, blue, 


and light green sixteenth-century pisanos make delight- 


Ae 


Photo Lacoste 


GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALCAZARZGARDENS, SEVILLE, SHOWING THE WALL PROMENADES 


awe 


eM, 


he See 


196 


Photo Lacoste 
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALCAZAR GARDENS TAKEN TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO BEFORE NEW TREES WERE PLANTED 


eA 


si 
LAUT We Dy 
ey (Zoe fe | 
uy ( ing’ } = a st — i = ; HN 

f i = qyp® SEVILLE 


eee 


GARDENS 


aan 
of the 


y rast ] =| fe | E ~ =| s, 3 S = = w : 7; I , 


by 


HUN 


PLAN OF THE ALCAZAR GARDENS 
Double walls indicate a promenade on top 


THE ALCAZAR GARDENS. POOL AND ENTRANCE LOGGIA 


ah, 


SRR, RIE He 


A PAVED PATIO BETWEEN TWO PLANTED PLOTS. 


THE ALCAZAR 


200 


yh 


y 


at 


? 


¥ 


- 


E PALACE 


MARIA PADILLA, ADJACENT TO TH 


ARDEN OF 


G 


VRC 


i 


THE ALC 


THE ALCAZAR GARDENS. PLANTING FORMS A GREEN BACKGROUND FOR THE POLYCHROME TILE ACCESSORIES 


202 


Lf a BROS PROSE 


EIR. 


PURPOSELY CREATED TO ADD INTEREST 


DIFFERENCES OF LEVEL HAVE BEEN 


THE ALCAZAR GARDENS. 


203 


THE WALLED ENCLOSURES ARE CONNECTED BY GRILLED OPENINGS 


THE ALCAZAR GARDENS. 


a Ae é, “ 
Le RITA 


etree BABE 


rai 


Eger een 
a, 
Pr. 


term a: 


* PSA™ 


Rear 
Mae fA 


"KE « 
a. 


oy 


#t* "4 


Ae SeH Ty" +: 


GALLERY IN THE THICKNESS OF PETER THE CRUEL’S WALL 


HE ALCAZAR. 


T 


r 


A sheltered promenade overlooking the gardens 


THE ALCAZAR GARDENS. PAVILION OF CHARLES V 
The coloured tiles are among the finest in Seville 


THE ALCAZAR GARDENS. BAROQUE PAVILION AND THE SO@CALLED POOL OF JOAN THE MAD 


THE ALCAZAR GARDENS, SEVILLE 207 


ful harmony. The French gardener who arranged the 
Ronda place already illustrated did something of the 
same sort with very good results. 

As a tile creation the Emperor’s summer house and 
the court in which it Stands are a chef-d’euvre. The 
former we have described, calling attention to the fine 
lustre tiles, of which not many remain to-day in Seville. 
It is set in the centre of the court covering about half 
an acre, and this whole space is paved with unglazed 
red tiles laid in herring-bone. Innumerable little circular 
beds for orange trees are edged with coloured tiles, and 
around the enclosing wall runs a continuous tile bench. 
The trees, well clipped into spherical form and neatly 
set in their round earth pockets, appear dwarfed, as if 
they belonged to an embroidery or tapestry. When 
thick with fruit nothing could be more decorative than 
the golden green spotting in conjunction with the 
coloured tiles. As a garden this spot has somewhat the 
quality of a primitive painting—perhaps for the same 
reason: it has zo drawing, all is off axis and askew for 
no apparent reason, yet the result is charm. 

Commenting on the plan of the Alcazar gardens it 
was observed that the walled enclosures nearest the 
palace (de Maria Padilla) were smaller and treated 
more intimately; meaning that they were more like 
outdoor rooms. As an extension of the living apart- 
ments they were kept very formal, mostly in tiles. 
Practically the only planting is against the white walls, 


which are made beautiful by vines and pleached trees. 


208 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


The only bloom is that provided by potted plants set 
freely about (ex passant, the large pots of cream glaze 
with the royal arms in blue are commendably unpre- 
tentious and do not try to rival the polychrome of the 
tiles). The first section, practically flowerless except 
when its immense and very impressive oleander tree is 
in bloom, offers an enchanting play of soft colour as 
one enters from the upper level—glossy, purplish green 
in the oleander leaves, waxy yellowish green in the 
lemon trees, and all the shades between; brilliant yellow 
and blue in the tiled fountains and benches, and their 
reflections in the broad basin heightened by the potted 
carnations that Stand around. Out of these simple ele- 
ments plus a few lordly peacocks a masterpiece of 
colouring has been created. 

A great deal of interest is added to these courts by 
their being at slightly different level and connected by 
tiled Stairs. The whole garden terrain was probably 
equally flat, and these differences were intentionally 
created. Another effective detail that deserves mention 
and which we also suspect to have been intentional is 
the slight deflection of the main axis; by this trick, in 
the long vista through the several patios one always gets 
one side of the arched reveal beyond inStead of merely 
the blank opening. 

In the next and much larger parterre parallel to the 
Padilla, planting is the main feature; eight big plots set 
out in mazes of box and myrtle. These mazes are of 


every conceivable design, geometric and scroll. Here 


THE ALCAZAR GARDENS, SEVILLE 209 


are found the previously mentioned insignia of the 
military orders outlined in box. Above these densely 
planted beds rise lofty date-palms—the whole forming a 
green shade garden. 

A more attractive garden than this of the Alcazar is 
hard to imagine. Wandering through it one feels the 
childish simplicity of the plan and is convinced that it 
must date back at least to Peter the Cruel’s reign, if 
not earlier. Charles V’s half-trained Spanish Italianists, 
had they Started with virgin soil, would have attempted 
an ambitious partie and felt it necessary to dissimulate 
the irregularities of the site by some recognized aca- 
demic solution. Confronted by an existing Moorish 
layout, they wisely took the line of least resistance and 
did but little to modify it. Philip IV and Philip V’s 
gardeners were less prudent; their trivial rococo revet- 
ment, @ /a Boboli, to the Sturdy old medieval wall and 
their effort to Louzsize the garden area to the west are 


distinctly unpleasant anomalies. 


GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR. STAIR OF POLYCHROME 
TILES BUILT IN THE THICKNESS OF THE WALL AND 
LEADING TO A PROMENADE GALLERY ON TOP 


VIII 


GARDEN OF THE DUKE OF MEDINACELI, SEVILLE 
GARDEN OF THE DUKE OF ALVA, SEVILLE 


CHAPTER VIII 


GARDEN OF THE DUKE OF MEDINACELI, SEVILLE 

GARDEN OF THE DUKE OF ALVA, SEVILLE 

HE two most important old Sevillian palaces 
with gardens are known popularly as the Casa 
de Pilatos and the Casa de las Duefas. The 

first belongs to the Duke of Medinaceli, the second to 
the Duke of Alva; two ancient titles by the way, which 
head the list of Spanish nobility. 

Intermarriage of these two ducal houses with the 
powerful Ribera family of Seville explains the present 
ownership. In the late fourteenth century the Riberas, 
who lived in princely $tyle, bought the Duefias mansion, 
its owner having to sell it in order to ransom his son from 
the Moors of Granada. The new owners continued the 
building on a magnificent scale and at the same time built 
the Pilatos Palace, which was supposed by Sevillians of 
the period to be a copy of that once occupied by the 
Roman governor of Judea. It is the garden of this latter 
that first claims attention. 

If built in any other country in the sixteenth century 
both houses would have been in the Renaissance Style 
and accompanied by Italian gardens. In Seville, where 
architects and gardeners were Moors, all isa mingling of 
Moorish and Christian elements. In each case the palace 
plan is the usual grouping of rectangles around open 
patios, and the embellishment, except for a few marble 


details, is in azulejos, yeseria, and Moorish carpentry in 
213 


214 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


the form of artesonados and panelled doors and shutters. 
The Renaissance marble entrance to the Pilatos was ordered 
from representatives in Seville of the Genoese marble 
ateliers and shipped from Genoa, along with the famous 
Ribera tombs, to the city on the Guadalquivir ; but it is 
significant that the shipment did not include the charac- 
teristic Italian garden embellishments of the day. The 
main patio of the Pilatos house has no planting, for which 
reason it is less attractive than that of the Duefias; on the 
other hand, the gardens surrounding the house are finer. 
THE MEDINACELI GARDEN 

The gardens, representing but a fraction of the 
original grounds (which suffered bombardment in the 
uprising of 1840), consist of two distinét parts, the tiled 
to the southeast and the green to the northwest. The 
former is distinctly Andalusian, the latter European in a 
nondescript but very agreeable way. The Andalusian 
might be described as a Spanish triumph in back-yard 
treatment, for the space devoted to it abuts on the rear 
of a Street of humble dwellings. It is surrounded by an 
exclusion wall, all white like the house; this averages 
twenty feet in height, leaving little more than the pictu- 
resque rooftops of the neighbourhood visible. (Madrid 
might learn a useful lesson here; hardly a palace in the 
capital but has sixty-foot ‘spite walls’? on one side at 
least of its grounds, which, even could they be made things 
of beauty per se, would rob any garden of scale.) The 
Sevillian wall in question is surmounted by a cresting and 


is screened by bougainvillea and black-Stemmed bamboo, 


THE MEDINACELI GARDEN 215 


always particularly decorative against white. The tiled 
garden at its base is divided into five panels, three of 
planting, one wholly of tiles, and one given over to the 
pool (estanque). Little attempt was made by the designer 
to compose them either in relation to each other or to 
the house. Rather they appear to have been laid out 
much as one would spread fine old rugs on a floor of ir- 
regular perimeter, without the least concern over the 
resulting discrepancies. 

To simplify description these panels have been lettered 
on the plan. | 

Panel A is a Study in limited planting and coloured 
earths—eight garden-plots on a court of brilliant yellow 
clay. Around each plot is a double curb, blue tile and 
brick, and between the two, deep reddish earth sparsely 
planted with freesia. Set inside of this further to define 
the centre is an edging of green wooden hoops on whose 
outer side are planted little toylike clumps of myrtle kept 
down to six inches. The centre itself, of rich black 
earth, contains a variety of shrubs and flowers, among the 
latter violets, begonias, and sweet lavender ; in the corners 
of each bed and not visible in our photographs of three 
years ago, are large rounded shrubs. There is no tile 
fountain or basin; the only feature introduced by way 
of adornment is the Statue at the far end against the 
vine-covered wall. This is one of the large collection 
of Roman antiques brought back in the latter part of 
the sixteenth century by Per Afan de Ribera, Viceroy 
of Naples. 


216 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


Panel B is wholly taken up by the pool. Some 
twenty by thirty-eight feet, it is built of cement with a 
rounded coping. At the wall end is a fragment of 
sculpture and the water surface is largely covered with 
large, flat lily leaves. Dark ivy and brilliant nasturtiums 
outline the whole pool. 

In Panel C we have a tiled garden at its beSt. The 
entire area is paved, permitting no other planting than 
that of a small date-palm in each corner. Flat red tiles 
laid basket-weave with coloured insets were used for the 
pavement. Built-in features consist of the flat central 
fountain, the tiled bench along the pool-side, and oppo- 
site, the white retaining wall edged with green tile, of 
the corner panel which lies four feet higher. In this 
wall and on axis with the fountain is the double flight 
of Steps leading up. To emphasize the artificiality of 
this panel, there is no planting against either the low 
retaining wall nor the high enclosing wall at the back. 
The pavement is frequently wet down during the day 
and glistens like a jewel. ‘‘Smart”’ in its mos modish 
sense is the only suitable adjective thoroughly to describe 
this area. 

Panels D and E are laid out with yellow clay paths 
and trim garden-plots edged with blue and white tiles. 
Ground ivy and myrtle make the borders, and the 
centre is densely planted with herbaceous shrubs. The 
few Roman and Moorish columns placed about blend 
harmoniously. 


This is a precious bit of Andalusian gardening, and 


THE MEDINACELI GARDEN ra GF 


for its reStoration the Duque de Medinaceli and his archi- 
tects are to be congratulated; also for rescuing from 
threatened ruin the beautiful Renaissance iron reja 
which used to guard a window in a small and obscure 
rear patio and has now been brought out to a position 
more worthy of it, facing panel A. 

The green garden to the northwest of the house is 
also to be admired, but is far less Striking than the one 
just described. Like the loggias of the palace which so 
agreeably face on its several axes, the arrangement of 
the plan reflects Italian influence; in the details of 
planting and paths, however, we see the local tradition. 
The tiled paths are set almoSt a foot above the general 
level to permit of irrigation; and with this same end in 
view the earth is banked in patterns like miniature 
labyrinths. With the planting practically limited to 
deciduous shrubs and trees the garden has a quite 


European look. 


ff 


a 


219 


° 10 
SCALE OF P90 __3o FEET 


PLAN OF THE DUKE OF MEDINACELI’S PALACE AND GARDEN, SEVILLE 


a puke d ‘OD ‘ad ‘y sjojd Jurmoyg 
AOWVIVd VTAOVNIGAW AHL dO SNAGUVD UVAU ‘NVTd TIV.LAG 


are soe Eis =A Se 
SS eS. ta ea 


Phe cere 


HA 


{Ubi hi 
fl ist 


Wawees eantan 
we S58 552 ~ 


eee eer ere 


SPITS. aaa |S a a => i ae OS" Ti 


63 Yule 
x a My bbbethdehih >| 
MIF PELL. 
‘ el el arars Tn 
YY 4 NS a 
. . \N sis 
Y” 2 » = -_ y tous onl 


he = ri ee Eee a eee ab, 
THA rte See eA (Ps EE 8 Bae eee SEC es a Ee 


Wee A AE AD VA Li AS ART A EGA ECE 


HU VII bP NIH (VL ih EA Hil wil i il HAAN Wt al | 


GARDEN OF THE MEDINACELI PALACE. PLOT A 
Paths of tamped yellow clay and beds of black loam edged with coloured tiles 


PE NCRAS ag 


THE MEDINACELI GARDEN. PLOT B 
A long narrow pool edged with ivy and nasturtiums 


q 


"N€AGUVO TIAOVNIGAW AHL 


WUNFII) Papa URT[[IAIg Iq) Jo saydurexa yuaTaox 


d GNV O SLOTd 


9a[ suoiqoAjog 
O LOTd dO STIVLAG ‘NAGUVD ITAOVNIGAW AHL 


PRISE RTS 


sani Seana on ERRNO em 


FA nt he 


Ag ne ee 
Meda SaaS: 


{ us i : 
ae ALLA 
SEE RR rw : 


4 
8h ah Sn Sa 


oo 


THE MEDINACELI GARDEN. . PLOT E 
A clay court set out with beds of close-clipped planting to simulate grass 


226 


Tesi 


-) 
¥ 
¥ 
{ 
: 
Pe 
: 


SARE 9 ert 


, | g 
seers 


THE MEDINACELI GARDEN. PLOT E 
A combination of free planting and tile accessories 


Cr RO me De Lika Hee) UB) Hela ie eo 
GARDEN OF THE DUKE OF ALVA 

The Alva palace is usually referred to by the name 
of the small Street, Ca//e de las Duefias, from which it 
is entered. According to records it was once of much 
greater extent and contained no less than sixteen patios. 
Now it has but two. Perhaps, like the Pilatos palace, 
some of it was demolished during the uprising against 
Isabel II, and the large forecourt, so rare in Spain, 
where palaces were placed flush with the Street, may 
once have been occupied or enclosed by buildings. 
Neither forecourt nor fagade is specially interesting; in 
Moorish fashion the attra¢tions are reserved for the in- 
terior patios and the gardens behind. 

As seen in the plan, the forecourt is laid out in a 
planted oval bisected by a Straightaway. Around the 
sides and banked thick against the walls are pepper 
trees, lantana, acacia, and Spanish gorse. Against the 
house-wall, to the right on entering, is a fine tiled 
watering-trough, an old-time necessity which in Spain 
has not yet given place to the gasoline pump. 

Passing through the sanded zaguan or outer vestibule 
the principal patio is entered. This is Moorish in full 
decadence, rich and luxurious; a little museum of ‘all 
that Moorish artisans were producing in the sixteenth 
century for Christian masters and hence classified like 
the Pilatos patio as Mudejar—carved plasterwork, 
wooden ceilings, and azulejos. As to this last item, 
those who are intereSted in Moorish lustre can see in 


the family chapel to the left of the patio the finest tiles 


228 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 
with gold reflections (reflejos metalicos) left in Spain. 


The patio garden is simple in contrast to the architecture. 
Paths are placed on the diagonal, thus not calling at- 
tention to the fact that the entrance is off centre; at 
their intersection is a built-up basin of coloured tiles 
around a marble fountain. Originally the paths were 
laid in mosaic of polychrome marbles. When it became 
necessary to repave, unglazed brick was used, but a few 
panels of the mosaic were saved. As seen in the bird’s- 
eye view, planting is reduced to a minimum. Beds are 
of black earth and outlined by dwarf box. Ancient 
date-palms tower high overhead, at their base a circle 
or Star-form planted in lilies. The intervening area is 
neatly dotted with little tufts of dwarf juniper. All is 
set out and kept up with great precision. Lining the 
parapet of the patio are hundreds of flower-pots, whose 
contents vary with the season; in either carnation or 
chrysanthemum time they form a veritable cresting of 
brilliant bloom to the wall. 

A minor patio off to the left has never been re- 
furbished and is none the less attractive for that reason. 
Surrounded by a plain brick pavement is a mellowed 
old basin built up of emerald green and purple tiles. 
This colouring along with that of the raised violet beds 
is in delightful contrast to the immaculate walls. 

To the right of the entrance-patio is a typical Span- 
ish screen-wall separating the house from the grounds. 
Through its several grilled openings nice perspectives 
may be obtained of the garden beyond. This is quite 


Gr BuO CeO Eo Lin be DUKE OR A LV AL 229 


informal and consiSts of four main plots with the usual 
fountain in the centre. The beds, outlined with hedges 
and shaded by lofty palms, supply the cut flowers for 
the house. Passing around the Staircase wing and by 
the pool, one enters the irregular garden precin¢t at the 
rear. Here planting consists almoSt exclusively of 
orange trees, and to permit of their constant irrigation, 
the paths are raised high above the level of the ground. 
Along the walls of the house are pleached geraniums 
growing to a height of twenty feet. Azulejos are con- 
spicuous by their absence, and the whole effect is that 
of a rustic grove rather than of a city garden. 

In examining an Andalusian plan it muS&t be re- 
membered that the house is divided horizontally into 
summer and winter quarters. Into the lower or summer 
Story very little outside light and no sun are allowed to 
enter. Nearly all the openings give onto the patio, 
whose planting and fountain help to cool the air. The 
lower rooms themselves often have floor fountains whose 
open conduit leads out to the patio basin. In the case 
of the Duefias plan the large dining-hall across the back 
has the benefit of both the patio and the garden, one 
end, that towards the pool, having been left open in the 


form of a loggia. 


oe! 


a 
ETCH PLAN. 


A DEL DVQYE DEAL) 


PLAN OF THE CASA DE DUQUE DE ALVA, SEVILLE 
From ‘‘Spanish Architecture of the Sixteenth Century’’. Permission of the Hispanic Society of America 


232 


E 


A PALAC 


ALV 


ARDEN OF THE 


FRONT G 


le 


Watering trough of polychrome t 


8 


PRINCIPAL PATIO OF THE ALVA PALACE 
Diagonal paths divide the court into four plots outlined with dwarf box 


234 


tf 


ee i ae 
6 ee ee ats 


Seseeneentnelieasneedie mene 


Reo re 


WITH IRON GRILLES TOWARDS THE GARDEN 


TIO, 


r 


THE ALVA PA 


paxod qiim yno jas si jodesed sjoqm oy 1, 


ot 


sjueld 
OILLVd VA'IV 


AHL ONINOOTHAAO AUATIVD 


r 


A MINOR PATIO IN THE ALVA PALACE 
Planted with bougainvillea and violets 


THE ALVA PATIO SEEN FROM THE GALLERY 


Grass being difficult to grow, the plots are dotted with d 


lumps like “‘hen and chickens’’ 


iminutive c 


RDENS OF SEVILLE AND CORDOVA 


5s 


CHAPTER: [X 
SOME GARDENS OF SEVILLE AND CORDOVA 


PARQUE DE MARIA LUISA, SEVILLE 
HE modern Pargue de Maria Luisa has recently 


been prepared for the mse en scene of the Span- 
ish-American Exposition. ‘The whole extensive 

area known by this name was once the garden of the 
Duc de Montpensier, brother-in-law to Isabel II, and 
surrounded the great Baroque palace of Santelmo. Tow- 
ards the end of the last century his widow, Maria 
Luisa, presented the palace and the grounds nearest to 
it to the Archbishopric of Seville, and the remoter and 
larger portion of her nondescript park to the public. 
This was known as the Park of Maria Luisa. When 
Seville decided to arrange a Spanish-American Expo- 
sition the upper part of this park was chosen as the site. 
Building and garden-making were at once begun, but 
the Great War appears to have deterred indefinitely the 
opening of the exposition. All the preparations are in 
true Andalusian character; and if one feels that the build- 
ings are perhaps too intensely regional, not so the gardens. 
In these, as said, a Frenchman, M. ForreStier, col- 
laborated. The same expert is now busy metamorphos- 
ing the once barren side of the Montjuich, Barcelona, 
into a public garden of great distinction. The problem 
at Seville was to lay out in the Andalusian manner an 
area vaster than any existing prototype; also to make it 


public in character and provide it with long drives and 
241 


242 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


esplanades; yet to conform more or less to the previous 
layout, thus avoiding the expense of unmaking the old 
before Starting the new. The solution is most creditable. 
The designers have given Seville what it never possessed 
before—a truly Andalusian public garden, enjoyed by all 
classes (who here know how to be happy in a park with- 
out bandstands, merry-go-rounds, cages of unfortunate 
wild beasts, soda-water fountains, and other embellish- 
ments which in certain countries are considered indis- 
pensable to mass recreation). 

Although the Andalusian garden is usually without 
architectural features, one such indulgence—the pergola 
—was permitted here. Used sparingly without orders, 
it is merely a succession of square pillars surmounted by 
equally simple wooden beams. In every alternate bay 

are Stucco benches, and their edging of green tiles and 
the lozenge-shape tile insert in each face of the pillar 
are the only decoration. The vines at the base of the 
uprights are interestingly confined in a trefoil formed by 
three common roof-tiles imbedded vertically. Another 
departure from precedent is the large estanque, perfedtly 
rectangular and with an island of the same shape in the 
centre. Both borders of the water are accentuated by a 
stout brick coping, that of the island holding an un- 
broken row, hundreds and hundreds, of potted plants. 
The surface of the water is covered with lilies and frog- 
bit. While this pool is larger than any other in Anda- 
lusia there is no doubt that it was suggested by the little 


water garden, or Court of the Cypresses, at the Genera- 


PARQUE DE MARIA LUISA, SEVILLE 243 


life, whose rectangular simplicity and rows of flower- 
pots it repeats. 

The tile fountains in the park are for the most part 
well designed, low and broad (as much cannot be said 
for the marble Fountain of the Lions—poorly carved, 
and the beast too realistic). Some of the polychromy is 
too garish, but in this matter it is probable that the over- 
enthusiastic tile-manufacturers of Triana had their say. 
A tile innovation that attracts, and justly, much attention 
is the outdoor reading-room. Not so much for its de- 
sign, which happens to be excellent, but for its purpose. 
An exedra, to the memory of Cervantes, who spent 
weary months in a Sevillian prison, it tells the adventures 
of his fantastic hero, Don Quixote, in a fine series of 
burnt-clay pictures, while at each side of the seat is a 
tile book-Stand where repose vellum-covered volumes of 
the great novelist. These for the mental refreshment of 
the loiterer; and not chained like the old-fashioned park 
tin cup, but at the disposition of all—richman, poorman, 
beggarman, even thief. This charming and respected 
corner makes our own park nooks, all too often bestrewn 
with hideous comic picture supplements and the other 
débris of ‘‘nature-lovers,’’ exceedingly sad by contrast. 

Worth a line or two before leaving the Parque de 
Maria Luisa is the picturesque uniform of the guardians 
-—the traditional dress of the Spanish game-keeper, 
brown with green facings and leather accessories. The 
tasselled leggings buttoned only at the ankle and the top 
particularly engaged the attention of Théophile Gautier, 


244 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


likewise the broad-brimmed hat with green cockade. 
Something about the nicety of design and emphasis 
of small items makes this uniform specially appropriate 


to the Sevillian ‘‘park police.” 


EL JARDIN DE MURILLO, SEVILLE 

Another but very small public garden has recently 
been made, called the Murillo Garden. On this site 
the idolized Sevillian painter is supposed to have lived; 
certain it is that he was buried in the church of Santa 
Cruz, now demolished, which Stood nearby. A few at- 
tractive box-bound flower-beds, good tile fountains and 
seats, make up the typical composition. The most 
notable item is the caretaker’s lodge which we illustrate 
—a nice bit of design in the spirit of the modern re- 
vival, carried out in white Stucco, and adorned by fine 
iron window rejas. Potted plants, the reserve supply 
for the garden, are set about with great prodigality. 
Those who enjoy looking into small details will be in- 
terested in the iron rings in the fagade and again at each 
side of the rejas for holding flower-pots. These can 


also be seen on many an Andalusian balcony. 


EL MUSEO PROVINCIAL, SEVILLE 
A small garden carried to a high degree of finish, 
and beautiful in the special way that certain highly 
finished old paintings are beautiful, is that of the Museo 
Provincial de Bellas Artes. Until the DiseStablishment 
of the Monasteries (1835) this was the Convento de la 


Merced, and the garden referred to is in the southern- 


MARIA LUISA PARK, SEVILLE. CYPRESS ARCH 
Leads to the stucco pergola 


cy. 


a 


PE 


MARIA LUISA PARK. 


RGOLA IN WHITE STUCCO 


sets are of green tile 


‘he in 


| 


247 


THE MARIA LUISA PARK. LILY POND AND ISLAND 
The curbs are made of moulded brick 


A WINTER VIEW OF LILY 


POND AND 


ISLAND IN MARIA LUISA PARK 


“ILE SEAT 


RED T 


D BY A COLOU 


INE 


‘ 


GLE DEI 


UISA PARK. QUADRAN 


4 


MARIA I 


MARIA LUISA PARK. OUTDOOR READING ROOM 
Dedicated to the celebrated novelist Cervantes, and executed in coloured tiles which illustrate the history of Don Quixote 


252 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


NUMBER 8, GUZMAN EL BUENO, SEVILLE 

As a specimen of the small city garden, and one 
more or less similar to many others in Seville, we il- 
lustrate that to the rear of the Osborne palace at No. 8, 
Calle de Guzman el Bueno. Portions of the house date 
from before the Christian reconquest, but the garden 
would not be anterior to the seventeenth century. It con- 
sists of two plots embraced on three sides by the house and 
its wings. One motif is square, the other oblong; be- 
tween the two is a triple-arched marble screen with a 
delicate iron grille. For the rest the composition con- 
sists of polychrome tiles and dark-green garden plots. 
Flowers, except those in pots, hardly enter into the 
scheme. In each enclosure isa tile fountain, and against 
the far wall—that separating the adjoining house—a tiled 
bench with tall panel behind. In the arcaded gallery 
that surrounds the garden Stand fine old pieces of Span- 
ish furniture, and on the walls hang some excellent 
canvases by seventeenth-century masters, the contem- 
poraries of Velazquez and Murillo. These help to give 
the garden that lived-in aspeét which Sevillians may 
properly regard as their own special achievement. 

GARDEN OF THE MARQUES DE VIANA, CORDOVA 

Our remaining small flat garden is found not in 
Seville, but in Cordova: Calle de las Rejas de Don Gomez, 
palace of His Excellency the Marques de Viana. The 
curious name of the Street refers to a legend wherein 
the three large grilles of the Viana wall figure promi- 


nently. The palace dates from the sixteenth century, 


THE VIANA GARDEN, CORDOVA 252 


but the garden appears much more ancient. It probably 
Tepresents a small fraction of one of the large Moorish 
gardens for which Cordova was celebrated in the 
eleventh century—places where exotic flowers and fruits 
from distant India grew in profusion, where water gushed 
over quicksilvered glass to glisten in the sun, where 
rare birds of brilliant plumage, invisibly netted, darted 
about. Hard to visualize in the decayed city of to-day! 
With the exception of the great Mosque, and this sadly 
tampered with by ChriStian zeal, scarcely a vestige of 
Moorish architecture remains; and as for palace gardens, 
we are reduced to the single small example illustrated. 

The Viana palace Stands on the north part of the 
town, near the Convent of Santa Isabel. From the 
street one enters a spacious patio arcaded on all sides, 
the entrance being ingeniously arranged in a corner. 
At once the eye is confronted with an entirely new pict- 
ure ; no polychrome tiles but colour supplied instead by 
bright-yellow kalsomine. Stone columns of the arcade 
are thus painted, likewise string courses and cornices. 
The plants around the central fountain grow from glazed 
yellow pots. No other colour enters into the scheme. 
Under the arcade is a beautifully laid walk of black and 
white river Stones, and the open court is of coarse white 
gravel. Everything here is as orderly and as polished as 
a ship’s deck. 

To reach the garden one has to pass through the 
palace, a Moorish way of doing things which did not 
in the least disturb the Spaniards. As seen in plan it is 


254 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


arranged on the principle of a series of open-air rooms, 
surrounded by lofty walls eighteen or twenty feet high, 
and the enclosures approximately forty feet square. The 
first, de /os Naranjos, is set out with orange trees whose 
foliage is trained into a dense screen overhead ; the black 
soil is carefully banked for irrigation with a not undecora- 
tive result. The second, de /as Rejas, is devoted entirely 
to potted plants set about in groups on the brick pave- 
ment, and the only visible earth is that at the base of 
the walls where vines are planted. The third enclosure 
has a beautiful central group of cypresses trained in the 
form of a Gothic arcade and enclosing a marble fountain ; 
off in each of the four corners is planted a huge semi- 
circular clump of box. Here, too, there is a simple 
brick pavement. Access from one enclosure is by means 
of wooden rejas painted with blue kalsomine and the 
walls are covered with bougainvillea, its deep green and 
bright purple moSt effective against the white. The 
white facade of the house itself is set off by ultramarine 
blue cornice and String course, while the woodwork, 
such as shutters and sash, is painted green. At the level 
of the piso principal and extending almost the entire 
length of the garden is an imposing iron balcony ; this, 
too, is painted green except for the repoussé motifs of 
lions and castles, which are gilded. From this balcony 
one gets charming views of the garden in combination 
with the attractive rooftops of the old town beyond. 

A visit to this garden in summer, and one readily 


appreciates the razson d’étre of its walls. Except when 


THE VIANA GARDEN, CORDOVA Ze 


the sun is on the meridian they are always casting a 
welcome shadow. Lofty though they are, one never feels 
shut in, for besides the generous archways connecting 
one patio with another there are additional small open- 
ings in the form of recessed windows: also the three 
large ones overlooking the Street and barred by the « Rejas 


’ 


de Don Gomez.” It will be noted that this Cordova 
example, in contrast to those examined in Seville, is 


devoid of azulejos. 


The smaller towns of Andalusia supply little of im- 
portance in the way of real gardens; here and there, as 
at Ecija, Osuna, Jerez, Cadiz, pretentious patios of 
considerable architectural merit and good planting may 
be found ; but what the lesser towns chiefly yield would 
be small patios and garden details of a simple pictu- 


resque quality. 


256 
era ee 
|| eee 
Hi ee oe BRAG 
i | GIGI: 
hi y a Fa Fi 
| mae) | 
UI Ee i ie i 
(|| AUG; i 
a vi 
Hi if \ 
HV 1 ty 
lai ! xc ii ‘ 


s== eos 


== 


——————— 


il 
evi 


i iii’ vy 


Ht 


scale Pe. pam es 2SS Cece 


/INCIAL, SEVILLE. PLAN OF THE TILED GARDEN 


MUSEO PROVINCIAL, SEVILLE, DETAIL OF THE GARDEN 


* 
- 
2 


6 


x 


~ 


a ae tae 
A ee 
Se 


oe 
mn 


He 


rs 


a 


Ppl 
Bade 


SEVILLE 


L BUENO 


E 


ggia and garden at the rear 


IN THE CALLE DE GUZMAN 


x 


HOUSE 


Lo 


CALLE DE GUZMAN EL BUENO 
Rear garden with seat of polychrome tiles built into the white wall 


260 


T 


wSuintiva 
N 


HSOsU Ss. 'S 


Ae DaboA CE NT 


TWiteaaett MOAT i 


Annie 


TE 


re 


peste] 
5 


‘he; 
Ee Meats 


OA Sneed 


fu ESET ene ATT te 


ee /) Se 


Li = 
pIgaMMnNtc ITM TIM LC 


GO FEET 


AO 


SCALE OF O 


PLAN OF THE PALACE OF THE MARQUES DE VIANA, CORDOVA 


The garden consists of a series of high-wall enclosures 


RESIDENCE OF THE MARQUES DE VIANA. LOGGIA 
Paved with river pebbles and overlooking the garden 


? 
bi 


NES 


WHITE WALLS SOFTENED BY VI 


THE VIANA GARDEN. 


GARDEN OF THE MARQUES DE VIANA. LOOKING FROM THE BALCONY 
One of the paved enclosures whose central motif is a Gothic arcade formed by ancient cypress trees 


THE VIANA GARDEN. BLUE WOODEN GATE 
The vertical members are cut with the profile of a spindle 


TILE PICTURE OF A PICNIC, DATED 1809, FORMERLY ENCRUSTED IN A GARDEN WALL 


oe PART It 


ICAL PATIOS AND GARDENS 
_ OF MAJORCA , 


VILLA RUBERT, BAY OF PALMA 
An exedra in the garden overlooking the city 


” 


PART II 
TYPICAL PATIOS AND GARDENS OF MAJORCA 
N COMMON with Andalusia, the Balearic Islands 


have the blue Mediterranean for a background and 

a North African climate. Mediterranean archi- 
tecture from Gibraltar to Suez has a certain similarity 
derived from sun-crisped walls of varying colour, flat roofs, 
gaily painted accessories, and vine-covered walks. Majorca 
(Spanish, Ma//orca) has all this and, besides, more serious 
elements in plenty, for the palaces of Palma, the capital, 
are an interesting combination of Catalan Gothic and 
Genoese Renaissance. 

The natural beauty of the isLand—lofty mountains to 
the west, a great plain to the east, the sea visible from 
every point; weirdly twisted olive trees that boast a 
thousand years, wide-spreading carobs, pines; almond 
trees that convert the whole island into a cloud of 
blossoms in January, and orange and lemon trees that 
live in close intimacy with the house itself—all this form 
and colour make set planting seem superfluous. Majorcan 
gardens have their attraction but it is not that of Studied 
formal planting. 

A glance at the patios in Palma before going farther 
afield. We have said that the palaces reflect Catalan 
and Genoese influence. The old half-Moorish, half- 
Gothic city was nearly deStroyed by fire in the fifteenth 
century. As it had even from Moorish days been in 


close commercial relations with Genoa in particular and 
269 


270. SPANISH GARDENS AND: PAC. 


Italy in general, it was natural that the nobles in rebuild- 
ing their palaces should turn to a land that excelled in 
the then modern architecture. The sombre facades are 
imposing though they generally face on a Street no wider 
than six or eight feet—immense arched portal, beautifully 
framed Renaissance windows, and an open gallery under 
the far-projecting eaves. These last are reminiscent of 
Aragon and Catalonia. On turning into the patio, how- 
ever, we find a Sturdy sort of Renaissance that harks back 
to Genoa and Florence but without much Genoese and 
Florentine refinement. Gothic patios too can be found, 
saved from the flames or subsequently rebuilt in the old 
tradition. 

Though varied in treatment, Palma patios are alike 
in their ample proportions, all the more noticeable on 
turning in from the narrow Street. Unlike the Anda- 
lusian feature, it is not gay and colourful ; not an outdoor 
room to be lived in. Of solid masonry, it is essentially 
a practical court leading to the Stairs and used by both 
family and servants. Architecturally it is more developed 
than the Andalusian patio. Its Staircase always arouses | 
admiration ; not enclosed but rising from the open ina 
single run, it then divides into two returning flights which 
lead to the loggia-like gallery of the main floor. In 
patios that cling to the Gothic tradition the Stair is a long 
single run against one side and supported on an arch so 
flat that one wonders how the stones stay in place. All 
these Stairways have a rail of beaten iron cut to the 


silhouette of a stone baluster and topped off at the land- 


MAJORCA 271 


ings with brass, a very individual arrangement not seen 
on the mainland. The bays around the open patio are 
vaulted but in a few of the older palaces the vestibule 
leading from the street has a Moorish painted wooden 
ceiling. Vines or potted plants rarely relieve the me- 
dizval Stoniness. 

The Mayjorcan garden is not found in connexion 
with the city palace but is part of the posesion, or traét 
which Don Jaime gave to each of the chieftains who 
brought troops to help in the conquest of the island. A 
more common name for these country places is son. In 
many cases the som is Still held by descendants of the 
warrior on whom it was bestowed in the thirteenth 
century. The house itself is usually simple, even when 
reformed in the seventeenth century, at which time the 
island, in contrast to the reSt of Spain, was enjoying its 
usual prosperity. 

According to ancient custom the soz is managed by 
the amo, or lessee-farmer, and his wife, the madona ; to 
it the owner resorts occasionally for short Stays. Under 
one roof are his quarters, those for the amo, the chapel, 
and various Storehouses, olive presses, and so forth, 
making a picturesque Stucco pile crowned by tiled roofs. 
The patio, called in Mallorquin the c/asta, is either 
shaded by a giant grape-vine or a spreading tree in the 
centre, and is often overlooked by a gallery on one side. 
Although the Stair is generally enclosed like the clauSstral 
type of Andalusia, a subsidiary flight often rises from one 


corner to a mezzanine, and its iron balustrade and lean- 


272 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


to wooden hood add interest to the c/asta composition ; 
so likewise does the chapel entrance with its niched saint 
above. The well, common to all patios in all parts of 
Spain, has an iron crane and Stone kerb on which Stands 
the classic copper cantaro. 

In this brief space we can mention only a few such 
possessions: on the road to Soller we find first Raxa, 
remodelled in the late eighteenth century by Majorca’s 
famous patron of art, Cardinal Despuig; a few kilo- 
meters farther on the left, S’Auqueria (la Alqueria, or 
manor); while on the right Stands 4/fzbza. On the 
road to Bafialbufar is La Granja (the grange) and quite 
near to Palma, Son Berga and Sarria. Only a half- 
hour’s walk from the Son Rapifia tram are Son Vida and 
La Cigale ; Son Veri lies on the great highroad to Inca, 
while E/ Sa/t (the cascade) de Son Forteza is romantically 
situated up in the western mountain chain beyond Puig- 
pufient. A beautiful cloister garden and terrace is that 
of the Sefiora de Bonsoms, who lives in the former Car- 
thusian Monastery of Valdemosa; and lastly, almoSt 
within the limits of Palma itself, is the lovely old seaside 
garden, E/ ‘fardin Rudbert, which has made effective use 
of the Gothic capitals and saints from a ruined convent 
that Stood near the site. 

Raxa, to which Cardinal Despuig retired after a long 
residence in Rome and whither he brought many ship- 
loads of antique art treasures, was already an old eState. 
Before passing to the illustrious Despuig family (through 


intermarriage) in the early seventeenth century, it had 


e723 


CLOISTER OF THE CONVENTO DE SAN FRANCISCO, PALMA 
A fourteenth-century inclosure with informal planting 


geese es 


id 
serene 


Sa 
ae 
a 
oe 
ae 
se 
aS. 


AE Ds 


PATIO OF THE ALMUDAINA OR MOORISH ROYAL PALACE, PALMA 
Remodeled after the Christian Conquest 


75 


PATIO OF THE CASA LASTRE, PALMA 
In the smaller houses mediaeval tradition never completely disappeared 


PAISUEdXS 31k sored 94} S]9aI}s MOIIEU ogy Wars" paueduros 
AYOLNAD HLNADLNAATS “WWTVd ‘AOVIVd LOAIA JHL AO OLLVd 


UIPIVS SY} SUIYOOTIOAO IIvys [NJadv1s B YA Oed onboleg V 


VWIVd ‘SANOUVW NvAf Nod AO vSvO 


HSS 


& ORAS NER 00! cae 


wis 


Aeq JSOUIIIO; aq} Ul Sujaq uses years 2} ‘9DUBIJUD BdIAIOS 
AUOLNAD HLNADLXIS "VWIVd ‘AOVIVd AA AHL AO OILVd 


f 


HH 


ii 
il 


_ 


Ul 


I 


j 


lh 


i 


MAJORCA 29 


belonged for some two hundred years or more to the Sa- 
Fortezas, whose great city palace is the present Post 
Office ; and to judge by its Arab name, Raxa had previ- 
ously been the eState of a Moor of high degree. The 
last inheritor, the now aged Conde de Montenegro, being 
impoverished, sold it and the contents of its famous library 
and museum; only a few Statues and lapidary inscrip- 
tions remain. 

The Raxa garden, reminiscent of the Italian, is to-day 
very charming in its moss-covered dilapidation. The 
site was chosen for its natural supply of water, the first 
consideration on an island where droughts are frequent. 
Better to control the supply a large lake was made, which 
may date, like all the reservoirs on the island, from Moor- 
ish days. ‘The garden belongs to the hillside type, for 
it nestles in the fa/da (lap) of the Valdemosa mountains ; 
but unlike the Andalusian examples in the same class no 
decorative devices were resorted to for bringing the water 
down to the various levels; instead, there is-an incon- 
spicuous little canal, Stone-lined, behind the parapet. 
There is only one fountain to speak of —that of the 
parterre in front of the house; but many have been sold 
from the place. The great feature is the monumental 
Stone Stairway which leads from the fsa principal of the 
house, one Story higher than the patio level, up to the 
reservoir. Flanked with stepped parterres planted with 
great masses of purple iris (which, by the way, grows in 
amazing profusion in Majorca), and these overhung by 


orange trees and lofty dark pines, the colour effect is 


280 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


very beautiful and compensates for the mediocrity of 
the Statuary. 

It is intereSting to note that the balustrade of the 
Raxa loggia and terraces, always more Italian than 
Spanish, is here provided with hollow terra-cotta balusters. 
Whether these particular examples set the fashion or not 
is hard to say, but similar ones are found on every eState 
on this side of the island. From the uppermost terrace 
a good bird’s-eye view of the house is obtained —a simple 
quadrangle in plan, enclosing a spacious patio, and, rising 
from the intereSting jumble of tiled roofs, a little belfry 
for calling the hands to meals and to mass. Below and 
to the south of the house is a small sunken garden with 
formal beds lined with box, and interesting Steps and 
armorial portal leading up to the main road. 

Alfabia (another Moorish name) is even more interest- 
ing initsway. The house is approached by a long avenue 
of sycamores with beautiful whitish trunks. The win- 
dowless Baroque facade is merely a factitious front 
deliberately set up only a few feet in advance of the 
original Gothic facade. The patio has the usual piétu- 
resque accessories—well, chapel, olive presses, and cavern- 
ous Storeroom for almonds. Off to the left, before 
entering the patio, and reached by another avenue of 
sycamores, lies the garden, its portal flanked on one side 
by a Baroque dove-cote and on the other by a Stone- 
vaulted reservoir. This pool probably dates from Moorish 
days, for Alfabia was: once the country seat of the 


Moorish governor. 


MAJORCA ne 


The main walk of the garden is in the form of a long 
trellis sloping down to the orange groves that extend 
back of the house; on the one side indiscriminate plant- 
ing of flowers, on the other formal beds. Pebbles were 
used for the patterned pavement of the walk; besides 
the vines that shade it, it is further cooled by side sprays 
of water from lead jets in the parapet wall, following 
Moorish tradition. At the end of the walk is a fountain 
of no artistic merit but supplied with metal attachments 
that throw the water into myriad forms. A very serious 
and very small boy can be persuaded for very small com- 
pensation to juggle golden oranges in the slender jet 
by the hour, for the lucky visitor who has time to linger. 

Another soz illustrated, Sa Forteza, is beyond the 
town of Puigpufient in a remote valley. To reach it 
one might take the road between Valdemosa and Esporlas 
and include the magnificent Son Canet. The Sa Forteza 
place is alluded to locally as E/ Sa/t, in reference to the 
cascade that leaps from the lofty crags behind the house. 
Approaching from the road, one sees a succession of broad 
terraces leading up to the house like a Stupendous flight 
of Steps. They are planted with close-clipped orange 
trees that appear as diminutive as the little tufts in primi- 
tive pictures. Once on top and passing through the 
patio one sees that the uppermost level has been re- 
served for a beautiful green garden whose only bloom is 
the purple iris. Hedges of box are arranged in simple 
geometric patterns, each dominated by a clipped palm or 


Stiff pine. One feels that anything more would be 


282 SPANISH GARDENS AND PATIOS 


wrong ; the landscape is too beautifully wild to need it. 
Especially suitable also to the picture is the simple rec- 
tangular manor made imposing by spreading bastions 
and without any other adornment than its many plain 
iron balconies. A liberal use of ochre, sea-green, and 
washed-out pink in the walls is not only a harmonious 
note, but prevents the house from seeming like a white 
patch on the landscape. 

At Establiments, seven kilometers from Palma on the 
Esporlas route, is Son Berga. The name “ eStablish- 
ments ’’ refers to a parcelling up of the vast old possession 
of Son Gua/ into some five or six eStates in the early 
eighteenth century, the new owners building themselves 
houses of the classic island type. Thus Son Berga and 
Sarria came into existence. The Berga has a fine site— 
an extensive plateau high above the road and command- 
ing the whole Bay of Palma in front and the mountain 
range to the north and weSt. A Stately main facade is 
featured by a triple-arched loggia set above a medieval- 
looking vaulted passage connecting patio and formal 
garden. The garden of close-clipped hedges, bright 
clay paths, and several creditable fountains, is quite free 
of any high growth that would interrupt the sweep of 
city and sea. At the back, in contrast, is an English 
garden of masses of flowers, winding paths, the great drive 
that terminates at the patio entrance, and many tall shade 
trees. On a little eminence in this part of the grounds 
is preserved one of the old windmills with which the 


Gual tract was dotted, with its niched Virgin above the 


' 
‘ 
i 
| 
: 


See 


THE PATIO AND LOGGIA OVERLOOKING THE GARDEN AT LA GRANJA 


Its seventeenth-century bui'ders were thoroughly conversant with Florentine architecture 


THE PATIO AT RAXA, THE DESPUIG COUNTRY SEAT 
An old villa remodeled in the late eighteenth century 


RAXA, THE ESTATE OF CARDINAL DESPUIG, MAJORCA. .THE ESTANQUE OR RESERVOIR 
Its foundations are of Moorish origion 


286 


THE GARDEN STAIR AT RAXA 
Cn each side of the parapets are little canals for watering the terraces 


THE GARDENS AT RAXA. THE MONUMENTAL STAIR.LEADING TO THE RESERVOIR 
Purple iris, orange trees, and pines are on each side 


ALFABIA, AN ESTATE ON THE ROAD TO SOLLER, MAJORCA 
The villa is approached by a long avenue of sycamores 


tte 


Higcmeorts 


E APPROACH TO ALFABIA SEEN FROM WITHIN THE PATIO 


TH 


hough the facade 


Baroque the nucleus of the house dates from the fifteenth century 


Ss 


i 


I 


THE GARDEN PERGOLA AT ALFABIA LEADING TO THE ORANGE GROVES 
In summer this is freshened by jets of water at the sides 


THE GARDEN GATE AT ALFABIA 
Its charm does not depend upon a profound knowledge of architecture 


292 


S99¥II9} PR[I-ISUKIO SUISOdUI! JO UOISs2dINS B SUMOID BILLA Jq_f, 


THE UPPER TERRACE OF SON SA FORTEZA 
The planting is kept subordinate to nature 


SON BERGA, AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY VILLA AT ESTABLIMENTS, MAJORCA 


A broad terrace of formal planting in front of the house commands the Bay of Palma 


ch fe 


eer 


BP MRO pncane 


THE PATIO OF SON BERGA AND THE FACADE OF THE ORIGINAL FIFTEENTH CENTURY 


FARM-HOUSE 


Jeo JIUTUINS jo 


SSO[PABSOI ULIUBLIOIPIP, OY] MIA ABUT QUO sa[qu) pue saqoUsq auoIs YIUAL Paplsoid sjayd0d usyuUNs pastsap ApIIAI]9 wWIOI4 
VNTVd ‘LYAIAU WITIA AHL AO SNIGUVD 


GARDENS OF THE VILLA RUBERT, PALMA 
Mediterranean gardeners are but little interested in classic accessories 


» MAJORCA 


THE TOMATO TERRACES AT BANULBUFAR 
xtraordinary Mediterranean composition achieved by centur 


il 


1ent to 


es of pati 


i 


A most e 


MAJORCA 299 


portal. It now serves as a dove-cote. Sloping north- 
wards from the house and its two gardens is the /Auerta 
or farm. Son Berga harbors a. number of interesting 
antiquities that were found on the island. 

Hardly to be classed as gardens, yet of great interest, 
are the terraces of Bafialbufar, a picturesque town on the 
west coast. Man by centuries of toil has rendered fertile 
the once rocky slopes to the sea, terracing them in such 
perfect conformity to the natural topography that it all 
appears to have been so from the beginning. Seen from 
the high-perched coast drive coming from Esporlas, the 
whole Stretch looks like a big relief map scored with the 
engineer’s contour lines. Warmed by the reflected heat 
of the Mediterranean which laps the foot of the hills, 
and gay with the colour of varied flowers and fruits 
(tomatoes being one of the chief products), these terraces 
provide a very considerable annual income to their owners. 

Altogether a most alluring spot is this little-known 
island of Mallorca. ‘The garden-lover could ask for 
nothing more poetic than its old-time, never too scien- 
tifically laid-out gardens; yet we present them well 
aware that neither pen nor camera has done full justice 


to their charm. 


eer lt M 

aw eS x 
> <2 

ats 


INDEX 


| Cistercian Order, 114, 272 


A 


Abderrhaman I, 50, 133 

Abuzacaria, Arab writer, 13, 50 

Acosta, Don José 160, 177 

Ajimez window, 146 

Alba or Alva, Duke of, 105, 213 

Alba or Alva palace and garden, 191, 
227-29 

Albaicin Hill, 143, 176 

Alcazar (Seville), 12, 25, 27, 37, 49, 71, 78, 
88, 191-209 

Alfabia, 272, 280, 281 

Alhambra, 79, 89, 143, 145, 165-177 

Allée d’eau, 155 

Altamira Palace, 105 

America, II 

Andalusia, Part I, 269 

Arab, Arabs, 9, 10, 13 

Arabia, 25 

Aragon, 270 

Arcade, 37 

Artesonado, 214 

Asia, Asiatic, 9, 10 

Azulejos, (glazed polychrome tiles), 9, 10, 
60, 59, 72-89, 177, 213, 227 


B 


Balearic Islands, 269 
Banalbufar, 272, 299 
Barcelona, 114, 241 
Baroque style, 113 
Benches, 80, 87, 90, 9I 
Boquets d’arbres, 37 


C 
Cadiz, 255 
Calle de Abades, 105 
Calle de Guzman el Bueno, 80, 105, 252 
Calle del Horno de Oro, 106 
Calle de Las Rejas de Don Gomez, 252 
Calle de Levies, 195 
Campo de los Martires, 178 
Campotejar family, 144 
Cardinal Despuig, 272 
Carmen de los Martires, 179 
Casa Chapiz, 106 
Casa de las Duenas, 26, 213, 227-29 
Casa de Pilatos, 26, 213-17 
Casa de las Rejas, 26, 252-55 
Casa del Rey Moro, 121-24 
Casa de los Tiros, 144 
Catalan, Catalonia, 11, 269, 270 
Catholic Sovereigns, the, 165 
Cerro del Sol, 145 
Cervantes, 243 
Charles V, the Emperor, 49, 88, 89, 165 
166, 175, 192, 193, 209 
Chopin, 116 
Christians, 10, 12, 25, 27, 49, 79 


Ciairvoyée, 39 

Cloister, 11, 26, 90, 113-116 

Columbus, 115 

Conquest of Cordova, Granada, Seville, 10 

Convento de la Merced, Seville, 59, 244 

Convento de la Merced, Cordova, 113 

Convento de Santa Clara, Moguer, 115 

Convento de Santa Clara, Seville, 115, 244 

Cordova; 10, 26) 27,37, 60;5°70,7 96, 124, 
£33,105; 1775 252-255 

Cortijo, 27 

Cuerda seca tiles, 77 

Cuenca tiles, 77 


D 
Darro River, 145 
Della Robbia, 77 
Despuig Cardinal, 272 
Disestablishment Act, 116, 244 
Dividing walls, 52 
Don Jaime the Conqueror, 271 
Don Quixote, 243 
Doorways, 69 
Du Cerceau, 37 
Duefnas, Casa de las, 26, 213 
Duchess of Parcent, 121 
Duke of Alba, 213 
Duke of Medinaceli, 213, 217 
Duke of Montpensier, 241 


E 


Eben Said, Moorish writer, 25 
Ecija, 14, 113, 118, 255 
Egypt, Egyptians, 25, 40 
El Paular, 114 

El Salt,i272 

Ermitas, las, 124-133 
Escorial, the, 12 
Esporlas, 281 
Establiments, 282 
Estanque (pool), 215, 242 
Europe, European, 9, 10 


bi 


Fabrica de Tobacos, 191 

Falda, engraver, 12 

Ferdinand the Catholic, 121, 165 

Flat gardens, 38, 39 

Flower pots, 72, 162, 208 

Forrestier, Monsieur E. N., 26, 121, 241 

Fountains, 60, 78-80, 104 

Fountain of the Lions, Alhambra, 175 

Fountain of the Lions, Parque Maria Luisa, 
Seville, 243 

France, French, 12, 13, 28 


G 


Garden sculpture, 28, 37 
Gautier, Theophile, 10, 95, 243 


393 


304 


Generalife, 25, 27, 30, 143-162, 242 
Genoa, 214, 269, 270 

Gibraltar, 121 

Granada, 10, I1, 25, 27, 37, 96 
Grass, 27, 50 

Guadalevin River, 121 
Guadalquiver River, 37, 191, 214 
Guadalupe, Monastery of 114, 


H 


Hieronymite Order, 114 
Hillside gardens, 38, 39 
Huerta, 38, 39, 60, 145, 299 


I 


Iberian Peninsula, 9 

Irrigation, 25, 59 

Irving, Washington, 176 
Isabella the Catholic, 121, 165 
Isabel II, 227, 241 

Italy, 12, 28 

Italian Palace of Charles V, 165 


J 


Jardin de los Adarves, 166 

Jardin de Murillo, 244 

Jardin Rubert, 272 

Jardines de Maria Padilla, 193, 207, 208 
Jane the Mad, 176, 193 

Jerez; 255 


L 


La Cigale, 272 

La Granja (Castile), 12 

La Granja (Majorca), 272 
Le Notre, 37 

Lowlands, the, 12 

Lupiana, Monastery, of, 116 
Lustre tiles, 227 


M 


Madrid, 214 

Majorca (Mallorca), Part II 

Maria Luisa Park, 45, 55, 87, 191, 241-44 
Maria Padilla, 193, 207, 208 

Marques del Merito, 116 

Marques de Peffaflor, 65 

Marques de Vega Inclan, 144 

Marques de Viana, (garden of), 96, 103, 
252-55 

Maze, 79 

Medinaceli palace and garden, 29, 59, 105, 
I9I, 214-17 

Medinat-az-Zahra, 27 

Metallic lustre tiles, 88 

Military Orders, 40 

Moguer, 115 

Mohammed V, 165 

Mohammedan, or Moslem, 9, 10, 121328 
Moors, Moorish, 9, 10, 

Monastery, II, 113 

Monastery of Guadalupe, 117 


INDEX 


Monastery of Lupiana, 116 
Monastery of Valdemosa, 272 
Montjuich Park, 241 

Mudejar, 105, 227 

Murcia, 27 

Murillo Garden, 76, 244 

Museo Provincial (Cordova), 103 
Museo Provincial (Seville), 244 


N 
Netherlands, 12 

O 
Olea house, 105 
Omaiyad Sultans, 50 


Osborne gardens and palace, 80, 105, 252 
Osuna, 255 


P 


Padres Venerables (patio), 79, 83 

Painted ceilings, 104 

Palacio Santelmo, 191 

Palma, 269 

Palos, 115 

Panelled doors, 104 

Parapets, 71 

Parcent, Duchess of, 121 . 

Park of Montjuich, 241 a 

Parque Maria Luisa, Seville, 87, 191, 
241-244 

Paths of Pebbles, 61, 87-88, 89-90, 106, 
115, 162 

Paths of tiles, 87-88, 217 

Patio, 10, 95 

Patio de la Alberca, 166 

Patio de los Arrayanes, 166 

Patio de los Cipreses, 160, 242 

Patio de Daraxa, 175 

Patio de los Leones, 166 

Patio de los Naranjos, 26 

Patio de la Reja, 175-176 

Patios of Cordova, 96-103 

Patios of Granada, 105-113 

Patios of Seville, 103-105 

Pavilion of Charles V, 88, 194, 207 

Pergola, 123, 242 

Persia, 9, 59 

Peter the Cruel, 71, 191, 192, 209 

Philip IV, 192, 209 

Philip V, 192, 209 

Pilatos, Casa de, 26, 213 

Pinelos house, 105 

Pisano tiles, 77 

Poblet, Monastery of, 114 

Posesion, (estate) 271 

Potted plants, 96 

Plaza del Alfaro, 31 

Pyrenees, 28, 37 


Q 


Quinta de Arrizafa, 133 
R 


| Raxa, 272-280 


Reja (of iron or wood), 69, 103, 104 


INDEX 


Reflejos metalicos, (lustre tiles) 228 
Renaissance, 37 

Reveal seats, 69 

Ribera family, 213 

Rigaud, engraver, 12 

Roman brick, 39 

Roman gardens, 37 

Romantic School of literature, 143 
Ronda, 37, I2I-131, 207 


5 


San Benet de Bages, 116 

San Jeronimo, Monastery of, 116 
Sanchez—Dalp, Don Miguel, 32 
Sanchez—Perez, Arab scholar, 13 
Santa Clara, Convent of, 115 
Santas Creus Monastery 114 
Sarria 272 

Sassanid dynasty, 9 

Scherm, engraver, 12 

Sculpture, 28, 69 


DemiestO. 11, 12..13,.25, 26, °37,.75,.99; 


774 F 191-211 
Silvestre, engraver, 12 
Soller, 272 
Son (of Majorca), 271 
. Son Berga, 272, 282, 299 
Son Gual, 282 
Son Sa Forteza, 272, 281-282 
Son Veri, 272 
Spanish-American Exposition, 241 
Stairs in gardens and patios, 89, 95, 96, 
123,271 


A 


Stucco, 69, 71 
Sutton—-Nichols, engraver, 12 


ie 
Tejaroz, (tiled hood), 70, 75, 77, 86 
Tiled paths, 217 
Tinaja, 106 
Topiary, 40 
Torre del Oro, 191 
Treillage, 37 
Triana, 78, 243 
Tunis, 25 
Turkey, 25 
Types of Gardens, 37 


V 
Valdemosa, 116, 272 
Valencia, 27 
Viana patio and garden, 96, 103 
Villa rustica, 27 

W 
Walls, 69, 72, 214 
Water, distribution of, 59, 60 
Wells, 96, 114 
Wooden grilles or rejas, 69 


Bb ¢ 
Yeseria, yeso (carved stucco), 71, 92, 104, 


177, 213, 227 
Yusuf I, 165 


vA 
Zaguan (vestibule), 227 


HISTORIC WALL-PAPERS 


From Their Inception to the Introduction of Machinery 


By NANCY McCLELLAND 


A Limited Edition de Luxe 


Twelve Full-page Color Plates, 245 Illustrations in Doubletone, 
and a Chart of Periods. Quarto. Handsomely Bound. {$25.00 


OR some time a history of wall-papers has been eagerly 

awaited by artists, art lovers, decorators and designers 
interested in period settings. But none of these, even in 
his most optimistic dreams, dared hope for such a magnifi- 
cent volume as Miss McClelland has compiled. So scarce 
and scattered were the authentic sources of information 
that the story had to be pieced accurately and painstakingly 
together from a careful study of rare examples and original 
documents here and abroad. 

The quest has been both engrossing and incessant for 
the past three years. It has led to strange and unexpected 
places-—-to a Governor’s mansion, to the cellars of the great 
Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, to country inns, to dusty 
old documents printed in French and English and German 
of a bygone day, to manuscripts and museums, to attics and 
long-locked boxes and forgotten trunks. 

The result is the complete story of the development of 
the wall-paper industry, traced, for the first time, from its 
beginning to the introduction of machine-printing. The 
exquisite French papers are treated with unusual complete- 
ness, as are the finest examples of England and America. 

Aside from its specific interest, it is a fascinating story 
of curious side-lights into the history of art and decoration 
and quaint historic records. Especially beautiful are the 
reproductions of painted scenic papers and earlier papers 
imitating tapestries and woven stuffs. 


AT ALL BOOKSTORES 


].-BS LIRP LN CG en COMPAN Y—PUBLISHERS 
LONDON PHILADELPHIA MONTREAL 


LIPPINCOTT’S PRACTICAL BOOKS 


FOR 
THE ENRICHMENT OF HOME LIFE 


Either good taste and refinement or the opposite are 
expressed in your home. | Here is professional expert 
advice which will give the knowledge needed 
to avoid glaring mistakes in home decoration 
and to help you express your personality. 


THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF OUTDOOR FLOWERS. By Ricuarpson 
Wricuat, Editor of House and Garden. 


A pageantry of bloom—a magnificently illustrated, instructive guide for all those 
who plan or supervise their own planting. The most comprehensive work on the 
subject. 165 Iliustrations in doubletone, 9 color plates, octavo. $7.50 


THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF FURNISHING THE SMALL HOUSE 
AND APARTMENT. By Epwarp Stratton Hotioway. 


Interior decoration and proper furnishing room by room. ‘The reason is given for 
every step—covers the whole subject in one volume. 192 I]lustrations in doubletone, 
9 in color, 7 diagrams, 296 pages, octavo. $6.50 


THteeRACTICAL BOOK. -OF INTERIOR DECORATION. By. 
Haroitp Donatpson EBERLEIN, ABBoT McCLureE anD EDWARD 
STRATTON HoLioway. 


A compact, comprehensive course in interior decoration in all its phases in one big 
volume. 283 Illustrations, 7 platés in color, 451 pages, octavo. $8.50 


THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE. By Harotp 
Dona.pson EBERLEIN AND ABBoT McCuure_. 
Treats of the Furniture of the English, American Colonial and Post Colonial and 
the principal French periods. Key of 19 pages with 113 Illustrations for the identi- 
fication of period furniture at a glance. 250 Illustrations, 371 pages, octavo. $8.50 


THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF ORIENTAL RUGS. By G. Grirrin 
Lewis. New Fifth Edition. 


If you want to know rugs to identify, purchase, collect or appreciate—Get this 
book. 194 Illustrations (32 color plates, 92 in doubletone, 70 designs in line, folding 
chart of rug characteristics and map of Orient), 375 pages, octavo. $10.00 


THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND 
CRAFTS. By Harotp Donatpson EBERLEIN AND ABBoT McCLuvure. 


An enrichment to amateurs and professionals, collectors and admirers, is this com- 
plete account of our Colonial craftsmanship in iron, gold, pewter, glass, copper, 
silver, etc. 232 Illustrations, key to silver, 339 pages, octavo. $7.50 


THE PRACTICAL BOOK:OF ARCHITECTURE.” By C. Marisce 
Price, Editor of Arts and Decorations. 
A fascinating, helpfully illustrated volume that will be a sure guide to architectural 
knowledge for home-ewners. 255 Illustrations, 348 pages, octavo. $7.50 
THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF GARDEN ARCHITECTURE. By 


PuHese Westcott HUMPHREYS. . | 

For modest or extensive expenditure, small plot or large estate, this volume gives 
practical help in establishing a harmonious relation between house and grounds. 
126 Illustrations, 337 pages, octavo, $7.50 


AT ALL BOOKSTORES 


feeb he PINCOLrT COMPAN Y—PUBLISHERS 
LONDON PHILADELPHIA MONTREAL 


300 Fascinating Pictures 


of Italian villas large and small. They are both an 
inspiration in design and rich in fresh, suggestive value. 


VILLAS OF 
FLORENCE AND TUSCANY 


BY 
HAROLD DONALDSON EBERLEIN 


The general reader, the architect, and the devotee of 
beauty will prize and study these remarkable illustrations, 
with their descriptions and comments, for they are both an 
inspiration in design and are peculiarly rich in fresh, 
suggestive value. No commercial photographer or paid 
assistant could possibly have taken the more than three 
hundred views that are shown here. The author did the. 
work himself with infinite care and a true artistic perception. 
Fach set of views is accompanied by a plot or plan, or 
both, of the villa concerned. 


The average traveler in Tuscany sees only the larger and 
more celebrated villas, and little dreams of the many 
delights hidden behind the high walls that line the roads. 
It is the joy of these as well as the beauties of the famous 
places that the author shares with the reader. 


Handsome Binding. Quarto in a Box, $15.00 


AT ALL BOOKSTORES 


J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY—PUBLISHERS 
LONDON PHILADELPHIA MONTREAL 


tf 


YY Pale 


et 


+s 


aN SIE £. ; ' 


Be 


Sothern 


dete War 
Toa par, 
Pee od eet bP 


a 
a 


+ 


thet 
ena 


F 
ma 
miaey Pee tobe ed) 


VF Peg | Nee 


Sot abot 
rch de Ta 0 
Nek FO 
Et ih oe 

es 


| 


LBP \ans 4 

ee lt HE te 
ries MS # 
eae fs rien 


oe if ; 


\s hoe 
+f 


Se One d+ 
’ Mu 


egebi 
Five > 


ov 


. 
vit 


eg Sah 
tehge oo 


Pe LiSee rib dl 


. 
Mikio 


ail 


my 


{ 


rer 
By fen fi 
, Pehle | 


KG 
ny ' 


sh ba ab YB 
DMA HY Mf 
iat ein 


! ’ 
th 
+ aif 


re A 
ay 


fev 
hy : 
iq “gh i 


7 


UP ast 

ey tbopaee by 

ee arts hea 
-s 


te 


™ 


i a 
bre 
nti 
mit 
HA. 


Ras i 
RENT 4 
A 
t 
St ee 


